Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:49 PM ET

HR max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.95
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17.5-2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.13±6.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1677 puts / 470 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3024.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$17.5-2.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5-2.5%53d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5-2.5%116d
Fri, May 21$15-16.4%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.53712162125$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.52.51517.52022.525171171
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HR 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

spot17.52.51517.52022.52522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15171820212351%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.51517.52022.525+$8K−$8K
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
1.00—2.50.0001—0.000.00
0.97-0.00150.04350.00-0.01-0.07
0.67-0.0117.50.34310.02-0.01-0.42
0.10-0.01200.11220.01-0.00-0.91
0.03-0.0022.50.02890.00-0.00-0.97
0.01-0.00250.01130.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot2.517.52022.5253350
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530344344
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 675 call contracts, 132 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: HR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk