Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 3:31 AM ET

JJSF max pain

Spot (delayed)$77.97
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$75-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.1±11.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.0092 puts / 46 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3030.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90
Earnings · expectedMon, Nov 16usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$80+2.6%25d
Fri, Nov 20$75-3.8%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Mon, Nov 16)
Fri, Feb 19$70-10.2%151d
Fri, May 21$60-23.0%242d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot754054688296110$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7540556575901003737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JJSF 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

spot75405565759010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4054688296110119%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 904055657590100+$3K$3K
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
0.97-0.01400.00200.02-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02500.00440.03-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.02550.00650.04-0.02-0.07
0.90-0.03600.00980.06-0.03-0.10
0.85-0.03650.01480.08-0.03-0.15
0.77-0.03700.02220.10-0.03-0.23
0.65-0.03750.03190.12-0.04-0.35
0.47-0.03800.03750.13-0.03-0.54
0.21-0.03900.02400.09-0.03-0.81
0.15-0.02950.01760.08-0.03-0.87
0.12-0.021000.01340.06-0.03-0.90
0.08-0.021100.00840.05-0.02-0.94

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

spot708090100400
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

spot4060801001204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89 call contracts, 124 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: JJSF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk