Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 1:21 AM ET

NICE max pain

Spot (delayed)$111
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$90-18.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.8±15.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.176K puts / 37K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3057.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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 16$110-0.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$90-18.9%36d
Fri, Jan 15$140+26.1%92d
Fri, Feb 19$125+12.6%127d
Fri, May 21$95-14.4%218d
Fri, Jan 21$110-0.9%463d
Fri, Dec 15$100-9.9%792d
Fri, Jan 19$85-23.4%827d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot904573101129157185$274M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9045709512014517010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NICE 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

spot904570951201451701313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4573101129157185186%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 50457095120145170+$1.8M−$1.8M
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
0.97-0.03750.00310.03-0.03-0.04
0.95-0.04800.00450.04-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.05850.00640.06-0.05-0.09
0.88-0.06900.00880.07-0.07-0.13
0.83-0.08950.01160.09-0.08-0.18
0.76-0.091000.01460.11-0.09-0.25
0.68-0.101050.01720.13-0.10-0.33
0.58-0.111100.01890.14-0.11-0.43
0.49-0.111150.01940.14-0.11-0.52
0.40-0.111200.01870.14-0.11-0.62
0.32-0.101250.01720.13-0.10-0.70
0.25-0.091300.01510.11-0.09-0.77
0.20-0.081350.01300.10-0.08-0.82
0.16-0.071400.01090.09-0.07-0.87
0.13-0.061450.00910.07-0.06-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot458011515018524010K0
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

spot458011515018524010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K 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: NICE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk