Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 11:13 PM ET

ELTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.77
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5+351.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.23±116.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.423K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30123.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$2.5-9.7%19d
Fri, Sep 18$2.5-9.7%47d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5+351.3%110d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5-9.7%201d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53711151923$2M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ELTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3711151923746%131%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 380.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2.57.512.517.522.5+$2K$2K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.67-0.002.50.20770.01-0.00-0.31
0.37-0.0050.15700.01-0.00-0.59
0.28-0.007.50.12080.01-0.00-0.68
0.24-0.00100.10140.01-0.00-0.73
0.21-0.0012.50.08900.00-0.00-0.76
0.19-0.00150.08020.00-0.00-0.79
0.18-0.0017.50.07370.00-0.01-0.81
0.17-0.00200.06850.00-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 9 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.55K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot2.57.512.517.522.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 9K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: ELTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk