Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:23 AM ET

FCFS max pain

Spot (delayed)$172
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$210+22.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.7±8.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.74260 puts / 95 calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$78Kper 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, Nov 20$210+22.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$180+4.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$180+4.7%144d
Thu, Jun 17$260+51.2%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210165184203222241260$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot210165180195220250105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCFS 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

spot21016518019522025077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot16518420322224126099%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot165180195220250+$41K−$41K
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
0.69-0.121650.01900.17-0.12-0.31
0.59-0.131700.02130.19-0.13-0.41
0.48-0.131750.02170.19-0.13-0.52
0.38-0.131800.02040.18-0.13-0.62
0.30-0.121850.01800.17-0.12-0.71
0.23-0.111900.01520.15-0.11-0.78
0.18-0.101950.01260.13-0.10-0.83
0.14-0.082000.01030.11-0.09-0.87
0.08-0.062100.00670.07-0.07-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001401752102703302210
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

spot80115150185240310221221
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 688 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: FCFS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk