Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:04 AM ET

ETHA max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.94
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$55+2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.6±12.2% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.411K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$62largest call OI
Put wall$53.5largest put OI
IV3050.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$158Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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, Oct 30$57+5.7%5d
Fri, Nov 6$58+7.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$53-1.7%19d
Fri, Nov 20$57.5+6.6%26d
Fri, Nov 27$55+2.0%33d
Fri, Dec 4$53-1.7%40d
Fri, Dec 18$57+5.7%54d
Fri, Jan 15$55+2.0%82d
Fri, Mar 19$59+9.4%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55404754616875$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot554052.555.558.561.570992992
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ETHA open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot554052.555.558.561.570257257
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot40475461687571%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 454052.555.558.561.570+$102K−$102K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.76-0.04490.03450.05-0.04-0.24
0.72-0.04500.03790.06-0.04-0.28
0.66-0.0451.50.04240.06-0.05-0.34
0.64-0.05520.04360.06-0.05-0.36
0.62-0.0552.50.04480.06-0.05-0.39
0.60-0.05530.04580.07-0.05-0.41
0.57-0.0553.50.04660.07-0.05-0.43
0.55-0.05540.04720.07-0.05-0.46
0.53-0.0554.50.04770.07-0.05-0.48
0.50-0.05550.04790.07-0.05-0.50
0.48-0.0555.50.04800.07-0.05-0.53
0.46-0.05560.04780.07-0.05-0.55
0.43-0.0556.50.04750.07-0.05-0.57
0.41-0.05570.04700.07-0.05-0.60
0.39-0.0457.50.04630.06-0.05-0.62

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot455053.55760.5644K0
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

spot1046.551.556.561.56911K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 71K call contracts, 62K 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: ETHA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk