Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 9, 12:13 AM ET

MFP max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.2
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.33±18.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI6.0873 puts / 12 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3062.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$35-12.9%5d
Fri, Nov 20$40-0.5%40d
Fri, Feb 19$50+24.4%131d
Fri, May 21$30-25.4%222d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40303438424650$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4030354045503434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MFP 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

spot40303540455011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30343842465096%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3035404550+$2K−$2K
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
0.89-0.02300.01660.03-0.03-0.11
0.78-0.03350.03140.04-0.03-0.23
0.58-0.04400.04640.06-0.04-0.43
0.36-0.04450.04360.05-0.04-0.65
0.22-0.03500.03180.04-0.03-0.79

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

spot22.5304555250
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

spot22.530405060706060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 73 call contracts, 154 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: MFP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk