Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 2:40 AM ET

IDA max pain

Spot (delayed)$138.59
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$130-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.38±4.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI5.53564 puts / 102 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3017.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$21Kper 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, Nov 20$130-6.2%29d
Fri, Dec 18$150+8.2%57d
Fri, Feb 19$135-2.6%120d
Fri, May 21$105-24.2%211d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot13085106127148169190$2M$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

spot13085105120135150165311311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IDA 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

spot1308510512013515016533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8510211913615317075%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot85105120135150165+$27K−$27K
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
0.98-0.011050.00230.01-0.02-0.03
0.98-0.011100.00350.02-0.03-0.04
0.97-0.021150.00550.03-0.03-0.05
0.95-0.031200.00890.04-0.03-0.08
0.92-0.031250.01540.06-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.041300.02850.09-0.04-0.19
0.70-0.051350.05220.13-0.05-0.34
0.41-0.051400.05970.15-0.04-0.61
0.21-0.041450.03620.12-0.04-0.80
0.12-0.031500.02110.08-0.03-0.88
0.08-0.031550.01340.06-0.03-0.92
0.06-0.021600.00920.05-0.02-0.94
0.04-0.021650.00660.04-0.02-0.96
0.04-0.021700.00500.03-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.011900.00200.02-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot85110140155170470
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

spot85105125145165185311311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 183 call contracts, 609 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: IDA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk