Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:04 AM ET

GPI max pain

Spot (delayed)$244.97
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$260+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.9±12.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.97907 puts / 936 calls
Call wall$330largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3049.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$205Kper 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$260+6.1%25d
Fri, Dec 18$220-10.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$270+10.2%81d
Fri, Apr 16$360+47.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260145256367478589700$34M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot260145185250330410530274274
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GPI 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

spot26014518525033041053022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145256367478589700200%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145175210270330390+$105K−$105K
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
0.95-0.071850.00230.06-0.07-0.04
0.94-0.091900.00280.08-0.08-0.06
0.93-0.101950.00350.09-0.10-0.07
0.91-0.112000.00420.11-0.11-0.09
0.86-0.152100.00600.15-0.15-0.14
0.79-0.182200.00810.20-0.18-0.21
0.69-0.222300.01010.24-0.22-0.30
0.58-0.242400.01150.26-0.24-0.42
0.46-0.242500.01180.27-0.24-0.53
0.35-0.222600.01110.25-0.22-0.64
0.26-0.192700.00960.22-0.19-0.74
0.18-0.162800.00780.18-0.16-0.81
0.13-0.132900.00610.14-0.13-0.87
0.09-0.103000.00450.11-0.10-0.91
0.06-0.073100.00330.08-0.07-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1702703404104906002820
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

spot120170240340440540282282
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: GPI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk