Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:26 PM ET

O max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.93
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$55-3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.43±4.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.7913K puts / 17K calls
Call wall$57.5largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3020.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $57.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Nov 20$55-3.4%20d
Fri, Dec 18$60+5.4%48d
Fri, Jan 15$60+5.4%76d
Fri, Mar 19$57.5+1.0%139d
Thu, Jun 17$60+5.4%229d
Fri, Sep 17$55-3.4%321d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55404958677685$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot554047.55562.5807K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)O 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

spot554047.55562.580438438
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot40485664728071%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 57.54047.55562.580+$3.1M−$3.1M
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
1.00-0.00400.00140.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0042.50.00260.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00450.00500.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0147.50.00990.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01500.02060.01-0.01-0.05
0.90-0.0252.50.04480.03-0.02-0.10
0.77-0.02550.09500.04-0.02-0.24
0.47-0.0357.50.14210.06-0.03-0.55
0.18-0.02600.09130.04-0.02-0.86
0.07-0.0162.50.03940.02-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.01650.01750.01-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00700.00470.00—-1.00
0.00-0.00800.00070.00—-1.00
0.000.00850.00040.00—-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

spot305060708511K0
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

spot27.537.547.557.567.58016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89K call contracts, 67K 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: O workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk