Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:26 PM ET

IDCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.84
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$330-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.75±10.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI3.40316 puts / 93 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3049.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$47Kper 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$330-0.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$310-6.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$290-12.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$200-39.9%144d
Thu, Jun 17$450+35.2%234d
Fri, Dec 17$320-3.9%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot330250286322358394430$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 — 330 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot330250280310340370400129129
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IDCC 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

spot33025028031034037040011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25028632235839443081%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot250280310340370400+$32K−$32K
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
0.93-0.142600.00220.11-0.15-0.07
0.91-0.162700.00290.14-0.17-0.09
0.88-0.202800.00380.17-0.20-0.12
0.84-0.232900.00480.21-0.24-0.16
0.79-0.273000.00600.25-0.27-0.21
0.72-0.303100.00720.29-0.31-0.28
0.64-0.333200.00820.33-0.33-0.36
0.56-0.343300.00890.34-0.35-0.44
0.47-0.343400.00900.35-0.35-0.53
0.38-0.333500.00860.33-0.33-0.62
0.31-0.313600.00790.31-0.30-0.70
0.24-0.283700.00690.27-0.27-0.76
0.19-0.243800.00590.24-0.24-0.81
0.15-0.213900.00490.20-0.20-0.86
0.11-0.184000.00400.17-0.17-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot951602403304205205170
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

spot95145195290390490531531
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: IDCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk