Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:39 PM ET

LCUT max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.42
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$5-40.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.53±18.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.09114 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3065.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$5-40.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5-10.9%54d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-10.9%82d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-10.9%117d
Fri, Apr 16$7.5-10.9%173d
Fri, May 21$5-40.6%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5578101113$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot557.51012.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LCUT 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

spot557.51012.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot578101113150%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 7.557.51012.5+$17K−$17K
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
0.95-0.0150.03800.00-0.01-0.06
0.75-0.017.50.19860.01-0.01-0.26
0.28-0.01100.16390.01-0.01-0.74
0.16-0.0112.50.08620.01-0.01-0.86

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

spot57.51012.5154K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 128 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: LCUT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk