Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 8:22 PM ET

KOID max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.21
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$36+8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.37±7.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5317 puts / 32 calls
Call wall$36largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3028.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$135per 1% move · flip ≈ $39

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$36+8.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$32-3.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$36+8.4%82d
Fri, Apr 16$31-6.7%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot36303336394245$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 — 36 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3630343638401515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOID 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

spot36303436384033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot303336394245114%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 393034363840+$1K−$1K
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
0.85-0.01300.06880.02-0.01-0.14
0.54-0.02330.15300.04-0.02-0.46
0.39-0.02340.15090.04-0.02-0.61
0.26-0.01350.12470.03-0.01-0.74
0.17-0.01360.09310.02-0.01-0.83
0.12-0.01370.06720.02-0.01-0.89
0.08-0.01380.04840.01-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01390.03530.01-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.01400.02620.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 10 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2535384144601240
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

spot253035404555140140
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 615 call contracts, 162 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: KOID workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk