Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:00 AM ET

KELYA max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.79
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10-40.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.22±19.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.45600 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3049.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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$10-40.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5+4.2%54d
Fri, Feb 19$10-40.4%117d
Fri, May 21$15-10.7%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103610131720$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot102.5101520865865
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KELYA 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

spot102.51015202020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3610131720313%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12.57.51012.51517.520+$8K−$8K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00040.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.007.50.00470.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.01100.01300.00-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.0112.50.03670.01-0.01-0.08
0.80-0.01150.10850.01-0.01-0.22
0.42-0.0217.50.17350.02-0.02-0.59
0.17-0.01200.09170.01-0.01-0.83

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

spot1012.51517.52022.59660
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530966966
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 627 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: KELYA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk