Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 2:45 AM ET

FIVE max pain

Spot (delayed)$223.24
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$220-1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.05±9.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.392K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3040.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$237Kper 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$220-1.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$250+12.0%54d
Fri, Jan 15$165-26.1%82d
Fri, Feb 19$230+3.0%117d
Fri, May 21$230+3.0%208d
Fri, Jan 21$250+12.0%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot220100154208262316370$21M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot220100135170210280360517517
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FIVE 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

spot2201001351702102803602020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100154208262316370148%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110140170200260320+$316K−$316K
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
0.95-0.051750.00280.06-0.05-0.04
0.94-0.061800.00360.07-0.06-0.06
0.92-0.071850.00460.09-0.07-0.07
0.90-0.091900.00590.11-0.09-0.10
0.87-0.101950.00740.13-0.10-0.13
0.83-0.122000.00920.16-0.12-0.17
0.72-0.152100.01300.21-0.15-0.28
0.58-0.172200.01580.24-0.17-0.42
0.42-0.172300.01600.24-0.17-0.58
0.28-0.152400.01350.21-0.15-0.72
0.18-0.122500.01020.16-0.12-0.82
0.12-0.092600.00720.12-0.09-0.89
0.07-0.072700.00500.09-0.07-0.93
0.05-0.052800.00350.07-0.06-0.95
0.04-0.042900.00250.05-0.04-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30751201652203104590
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

spot30751201652203101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 8K 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: FIVE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk