Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 9:56 AM ET

LUV max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.65
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.54±11.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.0810K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$47.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3044.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$274Kper 1% move

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, Oct 16$42+3.3%2d
Fri, Oct 23$41+0.9%9d
Fri, Oct 30$42+3.3%16d
Fri, Nov 6$40-1.6%23d
Fri, Nov 13$42+3.3%30d
Fri, Nov 20$40-1.6%37d
Fri, Nov 27$40-1.6%44d
Fri, Dec 18$40-1.6%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40253137434955$13M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot402530354045507K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LUV 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

spot402530354045501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25313743495584%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot253035404550+$715K−$715K
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
0.990.00250.00220.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0027.50.00420.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00300.00880.01-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.0132.50.01860.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.02350.03530.03-0.02-0.13
0.75-0.0237.50.05460.04-0.02-0.25
0.59-0.03400.06880.05-0.03-0.41
0.41-0.0342.50.07040.05-0.03-0.59
0.26-0.02450.05920.04-0.02-0.75
0.15-0.0247.50.04220.03-0.02-0.87
0.08-0.01500.02690.02-0.01-0.94
0.03-0.01550.01020.01-0.00-1.00

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

spot2532.53740.54447.56K0
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

spot12.5313742476016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 113K call contracts, 98K 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: LUV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk