Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 7:33 PM ET

LOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$195.76
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$190-2.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.65±10.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.62278 puts / 445 calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$105Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $155
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 18usually after the close

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, Sep 25$195-0.4%3d
Fri, Oct 2$200+2.2%10d
Fri, Oct 9$200+2.2%17d
Fri, Oct 16$210+7.3%24d
Fri, Oct 23$200+2.2%31d
Fri, Oct 30$195-0.4%38d
Fri, Nov 20$190-2.9%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Nov 18)
Fri, Dec 18$220+12.4%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot190150172194216238260$3M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot190150165180195220250111111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOW 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

spot190150165180195220250112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15017219421623826036%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 155150165180195220250+$46K$46K
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
0.95-0.021600.00450.09-0.03-0.07
0.92-0.031650.00620.12-0.04-0.09
0.88-0.041700.00820.15-0.05-0.13
0.83-0.051750.01040.20-0.06-0.18
0.77-0.061800.01250.24-0.07-0.24
0.70-0.071850.01430.27-0.07-0.31
0.62-0.081900.01560.30-0.08-0.39
0.54-0.081950.01630.31-0.08-0.47
0.46-0.082000.01640.31-0.08-0.55
0.31-0.072100.01470.28-0.07-0.70
0.19-0.052200.01140.21-0.05-0.83
0.11-0.042300.00770.15-0.03-0.91
0.06-0.022400.00480.09-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.012500.00290.06-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.012600.00180.04-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150182.5197.5212.52352905770
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

spot100155190217.52653409K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 51K 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: LOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk