Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:13 PM ET

MTZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$186.02
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$195+4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.25±12.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.344K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3060.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$195+4.8%21d
Fri, Dec 18$180-3.2%49d
Fri, Jan 15$250+34.4%77d
Fri, Apr 16$250+34.4%168d
Fri, Sep 17$170-8.6%322d
Fri, Jan 21$220+18.3%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot195120212304396488580$416M$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1951201652102903704602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTZ 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

spot195120165210290370460333333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120212304396488580225%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 200120150175200250300+$906K−$906K
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
0.92-0.111500.00500.07-0.11-0.08
0.89-0.141550.00640.09-0.14-0.11
0.85-0.161600.00790.10-0.16-0.15
0.80-0.191650.00960.12-0.19-0.20
0.75-0.211700.01120.14-0.22-0.25
0.69-0.241750.01260.16-0.24-0.31
0.62-0.251800.01380.17-0.25-0.38
0.55-0.261850.01450.18-0.26-0.45
0.47-0.261900.01470.18-0.26-0.53
0.40-0.251950.01440.17-0.25-0.60
0.33-0.232000.01360.16-0.23-0.67
0.22-0.182100.01120.13-0.19-0.78
0.14-0.132200.00820.10-0.14-0.87
0.08-0.092300.00560.07-0.09-0.92
0.04-0.062400.00360.04-0.06-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1251702303204105203K0
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

spot551151752703905103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 15K 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: MTZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk