Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 1:52 AM ET

IA max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.86
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$15-20.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.43±23.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.222 puts / 9 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3068.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$167per 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$20+6.0%21d
Fri, Nov 20$15-20.5%56d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-7.2%112d
Fri, Apr 16$17.5-7.2%203d
Fri, Jul 16$10-47.0%294d
Fri, Oct 15$15-20.5%385d
Fri, Dec 17$10-47.0%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15151719212325$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15152022.52544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IA 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

spot15152022.52522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15171921232588%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 20152022.525+$87−$87
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
0.79-0.01150.05480.02-0.01-0.21
0.42-0.02200.07530.03-0.02-0.57
0.29-0.0222.50.06130.03-0.01-0.70
0.20-0.01250.04740.02-0.01-0.78

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

spot2.512.517.522.530405080
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

spot2.51017.52540647647
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: IA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk