Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 22, 1:26 AM ET

LPLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$325
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$340+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.5±10.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.83650 puts / 785 calls
Call wall$390largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3046.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$124Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $370

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$340+4.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$330+1.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$340+4.6%86d
Fri, Apr 16$220-32.3%177d
Fri, Aug 20$330+1.5%303d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot340195252309366423480$9M$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 — 340 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot340195260310360420281281
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LPLA 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

spot3401952603103604202222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot195252309366423480107%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 370195260310360420+$151K−$151K
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
0.94-0.092500.00210.11-0.10-0.06
0.92-0.122600.00290.14-0.13-0.08
0.89-0.152700.00390.18-0.16-0.12
0.84-0.192800.00500.22-0.19-0.16
0.79-0.222900.00620.27-0.23-0.22
0.72-0.253000.00750.31-0.26-0.28
0.64-0.273100.00850.35-0.28-0.37
0.55-0.283200.00920.36-0.28-0.46
0.45-0.283300.00940.36-0.28-0.55
0.36-0.263400.00900.35-0.26-0.64
0.28-0.233500.00810.31-0.23-0.72
0.22-0.203600.00700.27-0.20-0.79
0.16-0.173700.00580.23-0.17-0.85
0.12-0.143800.00470.18-0.14-0.89
0.09-0.113900.00370.15-0.11-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1351852503203904701K0
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

spot1351752303103904701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: LPLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk