Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 10:01 AM ET

IQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.84
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$0.5-40.5% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.004 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV3071.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$558per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 30$0.5-40.5%2d
Fri, Nov 6$0.5-40.5%9d
Fri, Nov 13$0.5-40.5%16d
Fri, Nov 20$1+19.0%23d
Fri, Nov 27$0.5-40.5%30d
Fri, Dec 4$0.5-40.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$1+19.0%51d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5+78.6%79d
Fri, Mar 19$1+19.0%142d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112233$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot0.50.511.5231K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot0.50.511.5231010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot0.511.5+$281−$281
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.000.50.30620.00-0.00-0.04
0.20-0.0011.86910.00-0.00-0.81
0.030.001.50.27680.000.00-0.99
0.010.0020.0952—0.00-1.00
0.000.0030.0271—0.00-1.00

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

spot0.511.5233K0
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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.558K58K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 124K call contracts, 66K 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: IQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk