Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:04 PM ET

LAES max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.57
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$1.5-4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.22±14.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.054K puts / 80K calls
Call wall$1.5largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3075.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$124Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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, Oct 30$2+27.8%5d
Fri, Nov 6$2+27.8%12d
Fri, Nov 13$2+27.8%19d
Fri, Nov 20$1.5-4.2%26d
Fri, Nov 27$1.5-4.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$1.5-4.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5+59.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$2+27.8%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.513571012$74M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1.50.523.551027K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAES 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

spot1.50.523.55101313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot123345234%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1.512.545.512+$75K−$75K
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
0.99-0.000.50.04510.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.0010.26950.00-0.00-0.08
0.62-0.001.51.12500.00-0.00-0.38
0.18-0.0020.70350.00-0.00-0.81
0.07-0.002.50.30200.00-0.00-0.92
0.04-0.0030.16430.00-0.00-0.95
0.03-0.003.50.10380.00-0.00-0.97
0.020.0040.07200.00-0.00-0.97
0.010.004.50.05320.000.00-0.98
0.010.0050.04110.000.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.53.54K0
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

spot0.523.5510119K119K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 817K call contracts, 43K 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: LAES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk