Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 4:38 PM ET

LESL max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.74
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$2.5+237.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.68±91.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.341K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV30239.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$283per 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$2+170.1%7d
Fri, Sep 18$1+35.0%35d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5+237.6%98d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5+237.6%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.5148121620$5M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2.50.51.52.57.512.517.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LESL 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

spot2.50.51.52.57.512.517.5321321
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot148121620599%198%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 282.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 50.51.52.57.512.520+$262$262
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
0.81-0.000.50.31420.00-0.00-0.18
0.61-0.0010.44230.00-0.00-0.37
0.49-0.001.50.44750.00-0.00-0.50
0.41-0.0020.42500.00-0.00-0.58
0.36-0.002.50.39810.00-0.00-0.64
0.22-0.0050.29370.00-0.00-0.79
0.16-0.007.50.23370.000.00-0.86
0.13-0.00100.19530.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.51.52.57.512.517.58K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.512.517.58K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 10K 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: LESL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk