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

FLEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.3
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$95+24.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.2±19.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.478K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3086.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$100Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$95+24.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$90+18.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$90+18.0%81d
Fri, Feb 19$100+31.1%116d
Fri, Apr 16$90+18.0%172d
Fri, Jan 21$105+37.6%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot953070110150190230$187M$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9530651001351702103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FLEX 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

spot953065100135170210904904
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3070110150190230301%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 35306090120150180+$293K−$293K
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
0.99-0.01400.00110.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.02450.00240.01-0.02-0.02
0.96-0.03500.00440.02-0.03-0.04
0.92-0.05550.00740.03-0.05-0.08
0.86-0.08600.01120.05-0.08-0.14
0.79-0.10650.01530.06-0.10-0.21
0.69-0.12700.01870.07-0.12-0.31
0.59-0.13750.02080.08-0.13-0.41
0.48-0.13800.02140.09-0.13-0.52
0.38-0.13850.02050.08-0.13-0.62
0.30-0.12900.01860.07-0.12-0.70
0.23-0.10950.01610.06-0.10-0.78
0.17-0.081000.01350.05-0.09-0.83
0.13-0.071050.01100.04-0.07-0.88
0.10-0.061100.00880.04-0.06-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2045851251652106K0
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

spot1535701101501906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 17K 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: FLEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk