Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 20, 8:24 PM ET

LH max pain

Spot (delayed)$323.13
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$310-4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.85±7.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI4.662K puts / 354 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3029.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$658Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $250

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$310-4.1%31d
Fri, Dec 18$310-4.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$290-10.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$290-10.3%122d
Fri, Mar 19$300-7.2%150d
Fri, May 21$330+2.1%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310170216262308354400$19M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot310170220260300340380767767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LH 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

spot31017022026030034038044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot170216262308354400116%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 250220260300340380+$316K−$316K
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
0.98-0.012500.00100.04-0.02-0.01
0.97-0.032600.00160.06-0.03-0.03
0.96-0.042700.00260.09-0.05-0.04
0.93-0.072800.00410.13-0.07-0.07
0.88-0.102900.00630.19-0.10-0.12
0.81-0.133000.00900.26-0.13-0.19
0.70-0.163100.01180.33-0.16-0.30
0.57-0.183200.01380.37-0.18-0.43
0.43-0.183300.01400.37-0.18-0.57
0.30-0.163400.01250.33-0.16-0.70
0.20-0.133500.00990.27-0.13-0.81
0.13-0.103600.00730.20-0.10-0.88
0.08-0.073700.00500.14-0.07-0.94
0.05-0.053800.00340.10-0.05-0.97
0.03-0.033900.00220.07-0.04-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1702202703203704202110
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

spot150185240310380450783783
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: LH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk