Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:15 PM ET

NDAQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$104.36
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$94-9.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.7±5.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.463K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3026.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$611Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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, Oct 30$101-3.2%3d
Fri, Nov 6$95-9.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$100-4.2%17d
Fri, Nov 20$94-9.9%24d
Fri, Nov 27$96-8.0%31d
Fri, Dec 4$90-13.8%38d
Fri, Dec 18$87.5-16.2%52d
Fri, Jan 15$87.5-16.2%80d
Fri, Mar 19$90-13.8%143d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot94708090100110120$4M$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 — 94 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot94708391961011071K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NDAQ 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

spot9470839196101107225225
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot70809010011012084%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10070839196101107+$494K−$494K
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
0.82-0.0497.50.03090.07-0.05-0.18
0.81-0.05980.03290.07-0.05-0.20
0.78-0.05990.03690.08-0.05-0.23
0.74-0.051000.04100.09-0.05-0.26
0.70-0.061010.04510.09-0.06-0.30
0.65-0.061020.04890.10-0.06-0.35
0.60-0.061030.05210.10-0.06-0.40
0.55-0.061040.05440.11-0.06-0.45
0.50-0.061050.05560.11-0.06-0.51
0.44-0.061060.05540.11-0.06-0.56
0.39-0.061070.05400.10-0.06-0.62
0.25-0.051100.04400.09-0.05-0.77
0.11-0.031150.02410.05-0.03-0.91
0.05-0.021200.01200.03-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 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

spot658592981041151140
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

spot37.5708392.51021254K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 13K 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: NDAQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk