Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 10:24 AM ET

NOC max pain

Spot (delayed)$484.61
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$515+6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.45±7.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.123K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$560largest call OI
Put wall$480largest put OI
IV3029.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $350

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$500+3.2%2d
Fri, Nov 20$515+6.3%37d
Fri, Dec 18$530+9.4%65d
Fri, Jan 15$530+9.4%93d
Fri, Feb 19$515+6.3%128d
Fri, Mar 19$520+7.3%156d
Fri, May 21$490+1.1%219d
Thu, Jun 17$500+3.2%246d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot515350429508587666745$46M$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 — 515 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot515350425475525580660425425
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOC 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

spot5153504254755255806605656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot35042950858766674577%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 350350425475525580660+$695K−$695K
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
0.78-0.194500.00600.46-0.19-0.22
0.75-0.204550.00660.50-0.21-0.26
0.71-0.214600.00710.53-0.22-0.29
0.68-0.224650.00750.56-0.23-0.33
0.64-0.234700.00790.58-0.24-0.37
0.60-0.244750.00820.60-0.24-0.41
0.56-0.244800.00840.61-0.25-0.45
0.52-0.244850.00860.62-0.25-0.50
0.47-0.244900.00860.62-0.25-0.54
0.43-0.244950.00850.61-0.25-0.58
0.39-0.235000.00830.60-0.24-0.63
0.35-0.235050.00800.58-0.23-0.67
0.31-0.215100.00760.55-0.23-0.71
0.28-0.205150.00720.53-0.21-0.74
0.25-0.195200.00680.49-0.20-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3004254905556206906520
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

spot2904204855456207202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 17K 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: NOC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk