Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:18 AM ET

HOOG max pain

Spot (delayed)$22
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$27+22.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.88±31.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.48663 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV30134.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$27+22.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$24+9.1%54d
Fri, Feb 19$18-18.2%117d
Fri, May 21$25+13.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2751627384960$4M$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2751520253040182182
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HOOG 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

spot27515202530408484
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51627384960292%131%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 141.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1051520253040+$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
0.88-0.03150.02210.01-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.04160.02650.01-0.04-0.15
0.81-0.04170.03090.02-0.04-0.19
0.78-0.05180.03520.02-0.05-0.23
0.73-0.05190.03900.02-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.05200.04220.02-0.05-0.32
0.64-0.06210.04480.02-0.06-0.36
0.59-0.06220.04650.02-0.06-0.41
0.55-0.06230.04750.03-0.06-0.46
0.50-0.06240.04780.03-0.06-0.50
0.46-0.06250.04740.03-0.06-0.55
0.42-0.06260.04650.02-0.06-0.59
0.38-0.06270.04520.02-0.06-0.63
0.35-0.06280.04360.02-0.06-0.66
0.31-0.05290.04170.02-0.05-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot517243138503960
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

spot51724313845397397
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 911 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: HOOG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk