Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 3:21 AM ET

LKQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.35
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$22.5+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.98±13.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.203K puts / 16K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3050.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$324Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$22.5+0.7%28d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5+0.7%56d
Fri, Jan 15$25+11.9%84d
Fri, Feb 19$22.5+0.7%119d
Fri, May 21$35+56.6%210d
Fri, Jan 21$25+11.9%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5152126323743$23M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot22.51520253035406K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LKQ 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

spot22.51520253035402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot152126323743150%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.5152025303540+$282K−$282K
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
0.97-0.00150.01330.00-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0117.50.03360.01-0.01-0.09
0.80-0.02200.07930.02-0.02-0.23
0.54-0.0222.50.12940.03-0.02-0.50
0.26-0.02250.10080.02-0.02-0.76
0.13-0.0127.50.05760.01-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.01300.03350.01-0.01-0.93
0.05-0.0132.50.02110.01-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.01350.01420.01-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.0137.50.01010.00—-0.98
0.02-0.00400.00750.00—-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 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

spot12.52027.53542.5507K0
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

spot12.52027.53542.5508K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 4K 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: LKQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk