Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 12:41 AM ET

IMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.83
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$130+0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±7.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.40385 puts / 963 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3033.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$209Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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+0.9%24d
Fri, Dec 18$135+4.8%52d
Fri, Feb 19$120-6.9%115d
Fri, May 21$115-10.7%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1307095120145170195$5M$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

spot1307095120145170195527527
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IMO 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

spot13070951201451701951010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7599123147171195145%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12075100125150175+$154K−$154K
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
0.97-0.03950.00320.03-0.03-0.03
0.96-0.041000.00460.03-0.04-0.05
0.94-0.041050.00660.04-0.05-0.06
0.91-0.051100.00970.06-0.06-0.09
0.87-0.071150.01450.07-0.07-0.14
0.80-0.081200.02150.10-0.08-0.21
0.68-0.091250.03020.12-0.09-0.33
0.52-0.091300.03580.13-0.10-0.50
0.35-0.091350.03260.12-0.09-0.68
0.23-0.081400.02500.10-0.09-0.80
0.16-0.071450.01810.08-0.08-0.88
0.11-0.061500.01320.06-0.07-0.93
0.08-0.051550.00980.05-0.05-0.96
0.06-0.041600.00740.04-0.05-0.98
0.05-0.041650.00580.04-0.04-0.99

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

spot701101301501701905470
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

spot6085110135160185548548
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 759 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: IMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk