Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 7:57 PM ET

LWLG max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.62
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$5+8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.03±22.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.211K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3096.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$5+8.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$8+73.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$5+8.3%80d
Fri, Mar 19$5+8.3%143d
Fri, May 21$3-35.0%206d
Thu, Jun 17$4-13.3%233d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot52457810$1M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot52468103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LWLG 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

spot5246810275275
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2457810219%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 99.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 5246810+$3K−$3K
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
1.000.0020.00380.000.00-0.00
0.95-0.0030.07930.00-0.00-0.05
0.75-0.0140.27200.00-0.01-0.24
0.42-0.0150.34270.01-0.01-0.58
0.18-0.0160.22400.00-0.01-0.81
0.07-0.0070.11500.00-0.00-0.92
0.03-0.0080.05660.00-0.00-0.96
0.01-0.0090.02860.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.00100.01520.000.00-0.99

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

spot171319253111K0
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

spot171319253115K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 117K call contracts, 24K 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: LWLG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk