Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:49 AM ET

HIG max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.19
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$130-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.9±6.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI4.47380 puts / 85 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3022.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$163Kper 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, Oct 16$135+2.9%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130-0.9%37d
Fri, Dec 18$125-4.7%65d
Fri, Mar 19$120-8.5%156d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13095105115125135145$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13095115125135145265265
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HIG 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

spot130951151251351455454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9510511512513514574%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot95115125135145+$170K−$170K
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
0.96-0.02950.00330.04-0.03-0.04
0.93-0.031050.00620.05-0.03-0.07
0.88-0.041150.01270.08-0.04-0.12
0.83-0.041200.01910.11-0.04-0.17
0.74-0.051250.02940.14-0.05-0.26
0.57-0.051300.04060.17-0.05-0.43
0.38-0.051350.03870.16-0.05-0.63
0.24-0.041400.02810.13-0.05-0.77
0.17-0.041450.01970.11-0.04-0.84

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

spot901101251401551707K0
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

spot801001201401601807K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K 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: HIG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk