Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 11:23 PM ET

IVR max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.48
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$7-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±10.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.15297 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3023.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$8+7.0%6d
Fri, Sep 18$7-6.4%34d
Fri, Oct 16$8+7.0%62d
Fri, Nov 20$7-6.4%97d
Fri, Jan 15$8+7.0%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7147101316$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot71471014745745
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IVR 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

spot714710145252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot57912141689%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 71581116+$13K$13K
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
1.0010.00030.00-0.00-0.01
1.0020.00040.00-0.00-0.01
1.0030.00060.00-0.00-0.02
1.0040.00200.00-0.00-0.04
1.0050.01150.01-0.00-0.06
0.990.0060.09000.00-0.00-0.13
0.77-0.0070.69600.01-0.00-0.36
0.24-0.0080.35880.01-0.00-0.74
0.10-0.0090.14580.01-0.00-0.86
0.05-0.00100.07340.00-0.00-0.90
0.030.00110.04220.000.00-0.92
0.010.00130.01730.000.00-0.94
0.010.00140.01190.000.00-0.94
0.010.00160.00620.000.00-0.95

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

spot5791113152K0
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

spot1471013164K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K 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: IVR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk