Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 12:13 AM ET

JMKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.23
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20+16.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.2±18.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.662K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3054.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$17.5+1.6%20d
Fri, Nov 20$20+16.1%55d
Fri, Feb 19$17.5+1.6%146d
Fri, May 21$17.5+1.6%237d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20131722263135$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2012.517.522.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JMKE 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

spot2012.517.522.530246246
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13172226313595%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.512.517.522.530+$20K−$20K
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
0.91-0.0112.50.03510.01-0.01-0.10
0.77-0.01150.07310.02-0.01-0.24
0.54-0.0117.50.10300.03-0.01-0.48
0.30-0.01200.09250.02-0.01-0.72
0.15-0.0122.50.06080.02-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.01250.03520.01-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.00300.01150.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00350.00430.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot12.517.522.5303K0
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

spot10152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K 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: JMKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk