Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:39 PM ET

MEDP max pain

Spot (delayed)$674.41
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$650-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$45.35±6.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.03776 puts / 750 calls
Call wall$700largest call OI
Put wall$590largest put OI
IV3031.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$866Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $700

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$650-3.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$570-15.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$660-2.1%81d
Fri, Mar 19$590-12.5%144d
Fri, May 21$640-5.1%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot650410502594686778870$14M$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 — 650 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot650410490570650730810368368
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MEDP 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

spot6504104905706507308105353
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot410502594686778870105%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 700410490570650730810+$1.1M−$1.1M
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
0.89-0.256000.00280.34-0.26-0.11
0.86-0.286100.00330.40-0.29-0.14
0.83-0.326200.00400.45-0.33-0.17
0.79-0.356300.00460.51-0.36-0.21
0.74-0.386400.00530.57-0.39-0.26
0.69-0.416500.00600.63-0.42-0.32
0.63-0.436600.00660.67-0.44-0.38
0.56-0.446700.00700.70-0.45-0.45
0.49-0.446800.00710.70-0.45-0.52
0.42-0.436900.00700.69-0.44-0.59
0.35-0.417000.00670.66-0.41-0.66
0.29-0.387100.00610.61-0.38-0.72
0.24-0.347200.00550.55-0.35-0.77
0.19-0.317300.00480.49-0.31-0.82
0.15-0.277400.00410.43-0.28-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2804005206207208203830
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

spot2003304605907208501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: MEDP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk