Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 1:14 AM ET

LAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.3±11.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.733K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$32largest put OI
IV3051.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$149Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$40+6.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$42+11.4%52d
Fri, Mar 19$41+8.8%143d
Thu, Jun 17$25-33.7%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253341495765$8M$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

spot4025313641472K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAZ 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

spot402531364147502502
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot253341495765169%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 402531364147+$165K−$165K
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
0.92-0.03310.03270.01-0.03-0.13
0.89-0.03320.04300.02-0.03-0.16
0.84-0.04330.05420.02-0.03-0.20
0.79-0.04340.06520.03-0.04-0.25
0.72-0.04350.07460.03-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.04360.08100.04-0.04-0.38
0.56-0.04370.08380.04-0.04-0.45
0.47-0.04380.08320.04-0.04-0.53
0.39-0.04390.07960.04-0.04-0.61
0.32-0.04400.07350.04-0.03-0.68
0.26-0.03410.06570.03-0.03-0.74
0.20-0.03420.05710.03-0.03-0.80
0.16-0.02430.04840.02-0.02-0.84
0.12-0.02440.04040.02-0.02-0.88
0.10-0.02450.03340.02-0.02-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2535394347552K0
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

spot2030354045502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K 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: LAZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk