Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 5:34 PM ET

EME max pain

Spot (delayed)$678.47
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$700+3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$77.3±11.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.92524 puts / 568 calls
Call wall$800largest call OI
Put wall$720largest put OI
IV3052.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$191Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $550

Event risk before this expiration: 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$700+3.2%23d
Fri, Dec 18$580-14.5%51d
Fri, Jan 15$760+12.0%79d
Fri, Apr 16$660-2.7%170d
Fri, May 21$970+43.0%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot700540622704786868950$12M$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 — 700 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7005406106807508208907878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EME 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

spot70054061068075082089077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot54062270478686895076%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 550540610680750820890+$89K−$89K
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
0.79-0.626100.00290.50-0.63-0.21
0.76-0.676200.00320.54-0.68-0.24
0.72-0.716300.00340.57-0.72-0.28
0.69-0.756400.00360.61-0.75-0.32
0.65-0.786500.00380.63-0.78-0.35
0.61-0.806600.00400.66-0.81-0.39
0.57-0.816700.00410.67-0.82-0.43
0.52-0.826800.00420.68-0.82-0.48
0.48-0.826900.00420.68-0.82-0.52
0.44-0.817000.00420.67-0.81-0.56
0.40-0.797100.00410.66-0.79-0.60
0.36-0.767200.00400.64-0.76-0.64
0.33-0.737300.00380.62-0.73-0.68
0.29-0.697400.00360.59-0.69-0.71
0.26-0.657500.00340.55-0.65-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30055069082095011203900
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

spot3004906407608801040392392
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 3K 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: EME workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk