Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 8:18 AM ET

KOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-7.2% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.4616 puts / 35 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3049.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$321per 1% move · flip ≈ $55
Earnings · expectedFri, Nov 6usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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$45+4.4%3d
Fri, Nov 20$40-7.2%38d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Nov 6)
Fri, Dec 18$40-7.2%66d
Fri, Mar 19$40-7.2%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40404448525660$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot40405055603232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOP 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

spot404050556011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot404448525660107%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 5540505560+$2K−$2K
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
0.70-0.03400.04600.05-0.03-0.30
0.23-0.03500.03930.04-0.03-0.77
0.15-0.03550.02530.03-0.03-0.85
0.11-0.02600.01760.03-0.02-0.89

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

spot4045505560655540
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

spot2030456075570570
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 984 call contracts, 133 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: KOP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk