Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 1:07 AM ET

MGM max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.18
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$31+10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.53±9.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.659K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3043.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$152Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $21

Event risk before this expiration: 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$31+10.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$33+17.1%51d
Fri, Jan 15$32+13.6%79d
Fri, Mar 19$30+6.5%142d
Thu, Jun 17$32+13.6%232d
Fri, Sep 17$33+17.1%324d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot31172532404755$28M$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 — 31 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot311724303642483K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MGM 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

spot311724303642482K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot172532404755174%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 21172531374349+$119K−$119K
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
0.98-0.00210.01320.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01220.02100.01-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01230.03250.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01240.04870.01-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.02250.06970.02-0.02-0.16
0.76-0.02260.09320.02-0.02-0.24
0.66-0.03270.11400.03-0.03-0.35
0.54-0.03280.12510.03-0.03-0.47
0.41-0.03290.12280.03-0.03-0.59
0.30-0.02300.10920.03-0.02-0.70
0.22-0.02310.08990.02-0.02-0.79
0.15-0.02320.07040.02-0.02-0.86
0.11-0.01330.05350.01-0.01-0.91
0.08-0.01340.04010.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.01350.02990.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15253137434920K0
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

spot15233037445525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 76K 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: MGM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk