Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:38 AM ET

EQPT max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.01
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17.5+9.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.85±24.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.502K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30106.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$17.5+9.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5+9.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15-6.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$15-6.3%172d
Fri, Dec 17$15-6.3%417d
Fri, Jan 21$15-6.3%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.53814192530$4M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.52.5101520251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EQPT 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

spot17.52.5101520251616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot81217212630224%88%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 110.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.52.510152025+$25K−$25K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00090.00-0.00-0.00
0.97-0.017.50.00910.00-0.01-0.03
0.92-0.01100.02350.01-0.01-0.07
0.82-0.0312.50.04950.01-0.03-0.18
0.64-0.03150.07600.02-0.03-0.36
0.44-0.0317.50.08350.02-0.03-0.56
0.27-0.03200.07080.01-0.03-0.73
0.16-0.0222.50.05110.01-0.02-0.85
0.09-0.01250.03390.01-0.01-0.92
0.03-0.01300.01340.00-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.512.520304520K0
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

spot2.51017.5254021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 52K call contracts, 11K 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: EQPT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk