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

NOV max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.54
Max pain · Fri, May 21$15-27.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.1±24.8% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 80 calls
Call wall$22largest call OI
IV3033.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot15151719212325$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot15152022253838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NOV open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot151520222511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot15171921232545%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spot15202225+$1K$1K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.00150.02850.04-0.00-0.14
0.64-0.00200.05870.07-0.01-0.38
0.52-0.01220.06490.07-0.01-0.52
0.35-0.00250.06130.07-0.01-0.71

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