Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 3:10 PM ET

NOV max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.54
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$19-7.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.47±7.2% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.16163 puts / 997 calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3033.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$50Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$19-7.5%21d
Fri, Oct 16$20-2.6%49d
Fri, Nov 20$19-7.5%84d
Fri, Jan 15$12-41.6%140d
Fri, Feb 19$17-17.2%175d
Fri, May 21$15-27.0%266d
Fri, Aug 20$15-27.0%357d
Fri, Nov 19$10-51.3%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19151719212325$1M$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot191518202225574574
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOV open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot19151820222511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot151719212325122%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 201518202225+$23K$23K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00150.00550.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00160.01390.00-0.00-0.02
0.93-0.01180.07450.01-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.01190.14540.01-0.01-0.19
0.65-0.02200.22440.02-0.02-0.37
0.41-0.01210.24120.02-0.01-0.60
0.20-0.01220.17420.01-0.01-0.80
0.09-0.01230.09560.01-0.01-0.91
0.02-0.00250.02260.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot14172023271K0
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

spot3121722276K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 1K 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: NOV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk