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

NOV max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.64
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$19+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.6±3.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.0381 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$21largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV3041.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$19+1.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$19+1.9%36d
Fri, Jan 15$12-35.6%92d
Fri, Feb 19$20+7.3%127d
Fri, May 21$15-19.5%218d
Fri, Aug 20$15-19.5%309d
Fri, Nov 19$10-46.4%400d
Fri, Jan 21$12-35.6%463d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19171920222325$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, Oct 16

spot19171921232K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOV open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot1917192123543543
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot171920222325308%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1817192123+$22K−$22K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.03170.10320.00-0.03-0.06
0.79-0.10180.33600.00-0.10-0.21
0.32-0.14190.52400.00-0.14-0.69
0.05-0.01200.13050.00-0.03-0.96
0.01-0.00210.02830.00-0.02-1.00
0.00-0.00220.00820.00-0.02-1.00
0.000.00230.0030—-0.02-1.00
0.000.00250.0006—-0.02-1.00

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

spot31418222610K0
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

spot31217222710K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 2K 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