Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:03 PM ET

FDS max pain

Spot (delayed)$331.32
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$290-12.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.75±9.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.242K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3043.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$763Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $300

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$290-12.5%27d
Fri, Dec 18$270-18.5%55d
Fri, Jan 15$310-6.4%83d
Fri, Feb 19$300-9.5%118d
Fri, Mar 19$310-6.4%146d
Thu, Jun 17$220-33.6%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290145206267328389450$18M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot290145195250310370450374374
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FDS 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

spot2901451952503103704505656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot170226282338394450154%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 300180210260310360420+$238K−$238K
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
0.96-0.082600.00180.09-0.08-0.04
0.94-0.102700.00260.12-0.11-0.07
0.90-0.142800.00370.16-0.14-0.10
0.86-0.172900.00500.20-0.17-0.14
0.80-0.213000.00640.26-0.21-0.20
0.73-0.253100.00790.30-0.25-0.27
0.64-0.273200.00910.34-0.27-0.36
0.55-0.283300.00980.36-0.29-0.45
0.45-0.283400.00990.36-0.28-0.55
0.36-0.263500.00940.34-0.27-0.65
0.27-0.243600.00840.31-0.24-0.73
0.21-0.203700.00710.26-0.21-0.80
0.15-0.173800.00580.22-0.17-0.86
0.11-0.143900.00460.17-0.14-0.90
0.08-0.114000.00360.14-0.12-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051902403003604204450
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 7K 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: FDS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk