Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:13 AM ET

MAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$390.78
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$380-2.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.2±7.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.144K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$390largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3030.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

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 30$390-0.2%4d
Fri, Nov 6$375-4.0%11d
Fri, Nov 13$370-5.3%18d
Fri, Nov 20$380-2.8%25d
Fri, Nov 27$400+2.4%32d
Fri, Dec 18$310-20.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$340-13.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$340-13.0%144d
Fri, Apr 16$330-15.6%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380175230285340395450$57M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3801752303103703954151K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MAR 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

spot3801752303103703954155050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot175230285340395450119%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 190180260340380405430+$1.2M−$1.2M
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
0.79-0.183650.00800.31-0.18-0.21
0.75-0.203700.00900.34-0.20-0.26
0.70-0.223750.00990.37-0.22-0.30
0.68-0.23377.50.01030.39-0.23-0.33
0.65-0.233800.01070.40-0.23-0.36
0.60-0.243850.01130.42-0.24-0.41
0.57-0.24387.50.01150.42-0.24-0.44
0.54-0.243900.01170.43-0.24-0.47
0.51-0.24392.50.01180.43-0.24-0.50
0.48-0.243950.01180.43-0.24-0.53
0.45-0.24397.50.01180.43-0.24-0.56
0.42-0.244000.01170.42-0.23-0.58
0.39-0.23402.50.01150.41-0.23-0.61
0.36-0.234050.01130.41-0.22-0.64
0.34-0.22407.50.01100.39-0.22-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot205340370387.54054255070
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

spot1502303103754104803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 23K call contracts, 20K 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: MAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk