Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:14 PM ET

IT max pain

Spot (delayed)$230.28
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$200-13.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.9±13.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.62274 puts / 441 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3057.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $230

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$200-13.1%27d
Fri, Dec 18$175-24.0%55d
Fri, Mar 19$185-19.7%146d
Thu, Jun 17$200-13.1%236d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200120156192228264300$3M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot200120145170195240290120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IT 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

spot2001201451701952402907878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120156192228264300143%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 230120145170195240290+$67K−$67K
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
0.93-0.101800.00330.09-0.10-0.07
0.91-0.121850.00400.11-0.12-0.09
0.88-0.141900.00480.13-0.14-0.12
0.86-0.161950.00560.15-0.16-0.14
0.82-0.182000.00650.17-0.18-0.18
0.74-0.222100.00830.21-0.22-0.26
0.65-0.252200.00970.24-0.25-0.35
0.55-0.272300.01050.25-0.27-0.46
0.44-0.262400.01050.25-0.27-0.56
0.35-0.252500.00980.24-0.25-0.66
0.27-0.222600.00860.21-0.23-0.74
0.20-0.192700.00730.18-0.20-0.81
0.15-0.162800.00590.15-0.17-0.86
0.11-0.132900.00470.12-0.14-0.90
0.08-0.113000.00370.10-0.12-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701151602103004001K0
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

spot651151652303304301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 5K 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: IT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk