Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 2:48 AM ET

GOLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.46
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$44-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9±19.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.971K puts / 599 calls
Call wall$49largest call OI
Put wall$34largest put OI
IV3048.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $29

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Oct 16$44-3.2%25d
Fri, Nov 20$44-3.2%60d
Fri, Dec 18$39-14.2%88d
Fri, Jan 15$39-14.2%116d
Fri, Mar 19$39-14.2%179d
Thu, Jun 17$29-36.2%269d
Fri, Sep 17$54+18.8%361d
Fri, Jan 21$24-47.2%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot44243138455259$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 — 44 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot44243440495459799799
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GOLD 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

spot44243440495459147147
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot293541475359103%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 29243440495459+$39K$39K
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
0.97-0.01240.00380.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01290.00710.02-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.01340.01460.03-0.01-0.09
0.79-0.03390.02710.06-0.03-0.21
0.75-0.03400.02920.06-0.03-0.25
0.61-0.03440.03510.07-0.03-0.39
0.43-0.03490.03630.07-0.03-0.57
0.40-0.03500.03570.07-0.03-0.61
0.28-0.03540.03120.06-0.03-0.72
0.26-0.03550.02960.06-0.03-0.75
0.19-0.03590.02360.05-0.03-0.82

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

spot19294450599280
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

spot1929394959692K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K 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: GOLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk