Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:03 AM ET

GRPN max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.12
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$18+11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.13±19.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.427K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3088.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 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$18+11.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$19+17.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$20+24.1%81d
Fri, Apr 16$18+11.7%172d
Fri, Dec 17$15-6.9%417d
Fri, Jan 21$13-19.4%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18101623293642$26M$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot181015202530357K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GRPN 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

spot18101520253035321321
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot101623293642194%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot101520253035+$52K−$52K
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
0.95-0.01100.01970.00-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01110.02980.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01120.04350.01-0.01-0.11
0.83-0.02130.06010.01-0.02-0.17
0.75-0.02140.07690.01-0.02-0.25
0.66-0.03150.09030.02-0.03-0.34
0.56-0.03160.09750.02-0.03-0.44
0.47-0.03170.09790.02-0.03-0.53
0.38-0.03180.09280.02-0.03-0.62
0.30-0.03190.08440.02-0.03-0.69
0.24-0.02200.07440.01-0.02-0.76
0.19-0.02210.06410.01-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.02220.05450.01-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.01230.04580.01-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1122028364713K0
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

spot1111927354514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 98K call contracts, 33K 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: GRPN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk