Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:43 AM ET

FEM max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.73
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$28-11.8% vs spot
Put/Call OI1.71207 puts / 121 calls
Call wall$38largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3026.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1Kper 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$28-11.8%26d
Fri, Dec 18$25-21.2%54d
Fri, Feb 19$23-27.5%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28212528323539$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot282125283337150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FEM 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

spot28212528333711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25283133363989%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

spot2125293538+$5K−$5K
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
0.99-0.00220.00440.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00230.00650.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00250.01460.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.01260.02220.01-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01270.03400.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01280.05230.01-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01290.07950.02-0.01-0.14
0.48-0.02320.17100.04-0.02-0.53
0.32-0.01330.15260.03-0.01-0.69
0.12-0.01350.07970.02-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.01360.05370.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.01370.03630.01-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.00380.02490.01-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00390.01750.01-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot28323537392000
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

spot212529333741200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 383 call contracts, 308 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: FEM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk