Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:45 AM ET

LOPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$162.83
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$150-7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.55±8.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.2022 puts / 112 calls
Call wall$155largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3039.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$46Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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$150-7.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$160-1.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$145-11.0%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot150130140150160170180$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1501301451551651758080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOPE 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

spot15013014515516517511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13014015016017018053%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 150130145155165175+$37K−$37K
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
0.96-0.031300.00400.04-0.03-0.04
0.90-0.071400.00860.08-0.07-0.10
0.85-0.081450.01170.11-0.08-0.15
0.78-0.101500.01520.13-0.10-0.22
0.69-0.121550.01860.16-0.12-0.31
0.59-0.131600.02110.17-0.13-0.41
0.48-0.131650.02220.18-0.13-0.52
0.38-0.121700.02150.17-0.12-0.63
0.28-0.101750.01920.15-0.11-0.73
0.20-0.081800.01590.13-0.09-0.82

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

spot851251451651851080
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

spot75105135165195250108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 560 call contracts, 293 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: LOPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk