Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 6:04 AM ET

FIP max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.51
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$3+19.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.67±26.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.024 puts / 191 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV30153.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$298per 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$3+19.5%24d
Fri, Dec 18$4+59.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$4+59.4%80d
Fri, Apr 16$4+59.4%171d
Fri, Jan 21$3+19.5%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3344556$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot33456102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FIP 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

spot3345611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot344556380%89%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 148.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3456+$173−$173
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
0.46-0.0130.33130.00-0.01-0.56
0.31-0.0140.24490.00-0.01-0.70
0.24-0.0150.19070.00-0.01-0.77
0.20-0.0160.15760.00-0.01-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot13571011K0
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

spot1357911K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 3K 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: FIP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk