Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 4:22 PM ET

LSCC max pain

Spot (delayed)$98.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$100+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.3±17.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.143K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3078.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$100+1.9%25d
Fri, Dec 18$115+17.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$100+1.9%81d
Fri, Feb 19$110+12.1%116d
Fri, Mar 19$135+37.5%144d
Thu, Jun 17$100+1.9%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1004580115150185220$215M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10045751051351651959K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LSCC 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

spot10045751051351651952929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4580115150185220183%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1004580110140170200+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.95-0.05650.00380.03-0.05-0.05
0.92-0.07700.00560.04-0.07-0.08
0.89-0.09750.00780.05-0.09-0.11
0.84-0.11800.01050.06-0.11-0.16
0.77-0.13850.01330.08-0.13-0.23
0.69-0.15900.01600.09-0.15-0.30
0.60-0.16950.01800.10-0.16-0.39
0.51-0.171000.01890.10-0.17-0.49
0.42-0.161050.01860.10-0.16-0.58
0.34-0.151100.01740.09-0.15-0.66
0.27-0.141150.01560.09-0.14-0.73
0.21-0.121200.01350.07-0.12-0.79
0.17-0.111250.01140.06-0.10-0.83
0.13-0.091300.00960.06-0.09-0.87
0.10-0.081350.00800.05-0.08-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.560951301652009K0
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

spot22.555901251601959K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 29K call contracts, 9K 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: LSCC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk