Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 16, 2:13 PM ET

EWBC max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.6
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120-6.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.9±6.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.46212 puts / 461 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3029.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$98Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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 16$130+1.1%today
Fri, Nov 20$120-6.7%35d
Fri, Jan 15$120-6.7%91d
Fri, Apr 16$95-26.1%182d
Fri, May 21$90-30.0%217d
Thu, Jun 17$120-6.7%244d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120507192113134155$1M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1205080100120140230230
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EWBC 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

spot120508010012014022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8095110125140155104%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1005080100120140+$83K−$83K
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
0.97-0.03950.00360.03-0.03-0.05
0.96-0.031000.00510.03-0.04-0.06
0.94-0.041050.00740.05-0.04-0.08
0.92-0.041100.01110.06-0.04-0.11
0.87-0.051150.01730.08-0.05-0.16
0.79-0.061200.02730.11-0.05-0.24
0.65-0.061250.03970.15-0.06-0.38
0.44-0.061300.04160.15-0.06-0.57
0.28-0.051350.03120.13-0.05-0.72
0.19-0.051400.02170.11-0.05-0.81
0.13-0.041450.01550.09-0.04-0.86
0.10-0.041500.01150.07-0.04-0.90
0.08-0.031550.00880.06-0.04-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60951151351552720
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

spot5075100125150175314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 551 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: EWBC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk