Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 11:39 PM ET

LEA max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.64
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.5±11.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.2362 puts / 268 calls
Call wall$160largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3030.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $155

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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$130+7.8%27d
Fri, Nov 20$120-0.5%62d
Fri, Dec 18$125+3.6%90d
Fri, Mar 19$125+3.6%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1206090120150180210$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12060105130155180186186
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEA 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

spot120601051301551801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot609012015018021084%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 15560105130155180+$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
0.96-0.02850.00340.05-0.02-0.04
0.94-0.02900.00470.06-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.03950.00660.08-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.031000.00920.10-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.041050.01260.12-0.04-0.16
0.77-0.041100.01690.15-0.04-0.23
0.68-0.051150.02120.18-0.05-0.33
0.56-0.051200.02410.20-0.05-0.44
0.44-0.051250.02430.20-0.05-0.57
0.34-0.051300.02200.18-0.05-0.68
0.25-0.041350.01860.16-0.05-0.77
0.19-0.041400.01510.14-0.04-0.83
0.14-0.031450.01210.12-0.04-0.88
0.11-0.031500.00970.10-0.03-0.91
0.09-0.031550.00780.08-0.03-0.94

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

spot851251451651852101880
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

spot6090120150180220189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 452 call contracts, 208 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: LEA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk