Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 11:25 PM ET

LTM max pain

Spot (delayed)$57.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$60+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.75±20.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.272K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3046.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$50-13.3%15d
Fri, Sep 18$50-13.3%43d
Fri, Nov 20$60+4.0%106d
Fri, Dec 18$55-4.7%134d
Fri, Mar 19$75+30.0%225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60304050607080$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot60304050607080492492
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LTM 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

spot6030405060708011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30405060708081%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 40304050607080+$28K$28K
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
0.96-0.00300.00330.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01350.00560.04-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01400.00900.06-0.02-0.10
0.84-0.02450.01360.08-0.02-0.16
0.75-0.02500.01920.10-0.02-0.25
0.64-0.02550.02460.12-0.03-0.36
0.51-0.03600.02770.13-0.03-0.50
0.37-0.02650.02720.12-0.02-0.64
0.26-0.02700.02360.10-0.02-0.76
0.18-0.02750.01880.08-0.01-0.85
0.12-0.01800.01440.06-0.01-0.91

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

spot3040506070807430
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

spot3040506070801K1K
■ 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: LTM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk