Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:30 AM ET

ELV max pain

Spot (delayed)$439.95
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$420-4.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.6±6.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.203K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3029.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $450

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$420-4.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$400-9.1%54d
Fri, Jan 15$370-15.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$400-9.1%145d
Thu, Jun 17$410-6.8%235d
Fri, Sep 17$460+4.6%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot420200284368452536620$57M$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 — 420 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot420200270340410480550632632
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ELV 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

spot4202002703404104805505252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot270340410480550620109%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 450280340400460520580+$689K−$689K
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
0.96-0.073700.00180.10-0.07-0.04
0.94-0.093800.00260.14-0.09-0.06
0.92-0.113900.00380.19-0.11-0.09
0.88-0.144000.00520.26-0.15-0.13
0.82-0.184100.00690.33-0.18-0.19
0.74-0.214200.00870.40-0.22-0.26
0.65-0.244300.01020.46-0.25-0.36
0.54-0.264400.01110.48-0.26-0.47
0.43-0.254500.01100.48-0.26-0.58
0.33-0.234600.01000.44-0.24-0.69
0.24-0.204700.00860.38-0.21-0.78
0.17-0.174800.00690.32-0.18-0.85
0.12-0.144900.00540.25-0.15-0.91
0.09-0.115000.00410.20-0.12-0.94
0.06-0.085100.00300.15-0.08-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1602403304205106001K0
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

spot1402003204405606802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 13K 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: ELV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk