Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 1, 1:29 AM ET

MSI max pain

Spot (delayed)$491.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$460-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.15±7.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.42969 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$490largest call OI
Put wall$460largest put OI
IV3034.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $490

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$460-6.4%19d
Fri, Dec 18$460-6.4%47d
Fri, Jan 15$380-22.7%75d
Fri, Apr 16$410-16.6%166d
Fri, Dec 17$400-18.6%411d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot460250316382448514580$20M$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 — 460 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot460250350400450500550628628
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSI 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

spot460250350400450500550268268
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot270332394456518580141%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 490320380430480530580+$1.3M−$1.3M
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
0.94-0.154200.00230.15-0.15-0.06
0.91-0.194300.00310.19-0.19-0.09
0.88-0.234400.00410.24-0.23-0.12
0.83-0.284500.00520.29-0.28-0.17
0.78-0.334600.00640.35-0.33-0.22
0.71-0.374700.00750.41-0.37-0.29
0.63-0.404800.00850.45-0.41-0.37
0.54-0.424900.00900.47-0.42-0.46
0.45-0.415000.00910.47-0.42-0.55
0.36-0.395100.00860.44-0.39-0.64
0.29-0.355200.00780.40-0.36-0.72
0.22-0.315300.00670.35-0.31-0.79
0.17-0.265400.00560.29-0.27-0.84
0.12-0.215500.00450.24-0.22-0.89
0.09-0.175600.00360.20-0.18-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2503604204805406202K0
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

spot2403204004805606402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 2K 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: MSI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk