Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:06 PM ET

ICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$163.04
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$160-1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.8±6.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.311K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3028.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $160

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 23$157.5-3.4%today
Fri, Oct 30$160-1.9%7d
Fri, Nov 6$155-4.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$155-4.9%21d
Fri, Nov 20$160-1.9%28d
Fri, Nov 27$150-8.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$145-11.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$155-4.9%84d
Fri, Mar 19$165+1.2%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot160100122144166188210$17M$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 — 160 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot160100130150162.51752102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ICE 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

spot160100130150162.517521022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100122144166188210115%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 160100130150162.5175210+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.90-0.051450.01100.08-0.05-0.10
0.89-0.051460.01190.09-0.05-0.11
0.84-0.061500.01630.11-0.06-0.16
0.80-0.07152.50.01950.13-0.07-0.20
0.75-0.081550.02280.14-0.08-0.25
0.69-0.08157.50.02600.16-0.09-0.31
0.62-0.091600.02860.17-0.09-0.38
0.55-0.09162.50.03020.18-0.09-0.45
0.47-0.091650.03060.18-0.09-0.53
0.40-0.09167.50.02960.18-0.09-0.61
0.33-0.091700.02750.17-0.09-0.68
0.28-0.08172.50.02480.15-0.08-0.74
0.23-0.071750.02180.14-0.07-0.79
0.15-0.061800.01620.11-0.06-0.86
0.10-0.051850.01170.08-0.05-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot120141149160172.51901K0
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

spot70120141152.5177.52105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 32K call contracts, 16K 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: ICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk