Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:25 PM ET

MBB max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.29
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$90-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.53±1.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.65474 puts / 731 calls
Call wall$92largest call OI
Put wall$89largest put OI
IV307.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$748Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $91

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$90-1.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$85-6.9%54d
Fri, Mar 19$89-2.5%145d
Thu, Jun 17$92+0.8%235d
Fri, Sep 17$80-12.4%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot90838588909395$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot90838689919395315315
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBB 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

spot90838689919395115115
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot83858890939516%7%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 7.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 91838689919395+$553K−$553K
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
1.000.00830.00180.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00850.00710.01-0.00-0.02
0.99-0.00860.01420.01-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.01880.05720.03-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01890.10850.05-0.01-0.15
0.77-0.01900.18110.08-0.01-0.27
0.57-0.01910.23260.10-0.01-0.47
0.35-0.01920.21060.09-0.01-0.71
0.19-0.01930.14290.07-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01940.08390.05-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.00950.04820.03-0.00-0.98

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

spot79899193959811K0
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

spot657381899710511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 1K 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: MBB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk