Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:48 PM ET

HCKT max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.2
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10-18.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.68±13.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1430 puts / 215 calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3061.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 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$10-18.0%26d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+2.5%54d
Fri, Feb 19$10-18.0%117d
Fri, May 21$15+23.0%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105811141720$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1051015209191
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HCKT 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

spot1051015202020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot81013151820223%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5101520+$2K−$2K
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
0.95-0.0150.01240.00-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.027.50.03060.01-0.02-0.09
0.81-0.02100.07980.01-0.02-0.19
0.49-0.0212.50.17920.01-0.02-0.50
0.23-0.01150.10570.01-0.01-0.77
0.14-0.0117.50.06240.01-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.01200.04230.01-0.01-0.90

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

spot2.57.512.517.52580
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5262262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 482 call contracts, 37 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: HCKT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk