Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:45 AM ET

OLN max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.66
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17.5+11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.85±11.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.815K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3052.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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, Nov 20$17.5+11.7%26d
Fri, Dec 18$15-4.2%54d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5+11.7%82d
Fri, Feb 19$20+27.7%117d
Fri, May 21$20+27.7%208d
Fri, Jan 21$20+27.7%453d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5101723303643$12M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.51017.52532.5402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OLN 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

spot17.51017.52532.540165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot101723303643200%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.51017.52532.540+$32K−$32K
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
0.97-0.01100.01860.00-0.01-0.03
0.90-0.0112.50.06150.01-0.01-0.10
0.64-0.02150.16040.02-0.02-0.36
0.24-0.0117.50.13650.01-0.01-0.75
0.08-0.01200.05790.01-0.01-0.91
0.04-0.0022.50.02550.00-0.00-0.96
0.02-0.00250.01280.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.0027.50.00710.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00300.00430.00-0.00-0.99
0.00-0.0032.50.00280.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1017.52532.5403K0
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

spot2.51017.52532.5404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 13K 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: OLN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk