Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 6:54 PM ET

EXPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.01
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$285+1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$34.9±12.4% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI2.70391 puts / 145 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$235largest put OI
IV3060.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$71Kper 1% move

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$270-3.9%4d
Fri, Nov 6$285+1.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$285+1.4%18d
Fri, Nov 20$280-0.4%25d
Fri, Nov 27$275-2.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$225-19.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$230-18.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$250-11.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$260-7.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$300+6.8%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot285190232274316358400$2M$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 — 285 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot285190225255285320355248248
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EXPE open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot28519022525528532035533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot190232274316358400107%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot190225255285330395+$84K−$84K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.312450.00560.16-0.32-0.17
0.80-0.352500.00630.18-0.35-0.20
0.76-0.382550.00690.20-0.39-0.24
0.72-0.412600.00750.21-0.41-0.28
0.68-0.442650.00800.22-0.44-0.32
0.64-0.462700.00850.23-0.46-0.36
0.59-0.472750.00880.24-0.47-0.41
0.55-0.482800.00900.25-0.48-0.45
0.50-0.482850.00910.25-0.48-0.50
0.46-0.482900.00910.25-0.48-0.54
0.41-0.472950.00900.24-0.47-0.59
0.37-0.463000.00870.24-0.46-0.63
0.30-0.413100.00790.22-0.41-0.71
0.26-0.393150.00750.20-0.39-0.74
0.23-0.363200.00700.19-0.36-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot170245285307.53303701K0
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

spot701451952603053956K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 39K 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: EXPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk