Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:17 PM ET

OMCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.75
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$35-7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.63±17.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.37258 puts / 188 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3070.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$300per 1% move

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$35-7.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$40+6.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$35-7.3%116d
Fri, May 21$30-20.5%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35182737465665$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3517.52535455565128128
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OMCL 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

spot3517.5253545556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot182737465665287%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.52535455565+$6K−$6K
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
0.97-0.0217.50.00360.01-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.02200.00530.01-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.03250.01130.01-0.03-0.07
0.85-0.04300.02380.02-0.04-0.15
0.69-0.05350.04440.04-0.05-0.31
0.44-0.05400.05130.04-0.06-0.56
0.27-0.05450.03790.04-0.05-0.74
0.18-0.05500.02650.03-0.05-0.83
0.13-0.04550.01930.02-0.04-0.88
0.10-0.04600.01480.02-0.04-0.91
0.08-0.04650.01180.02-0.04-0.93

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

spot17.5254055705270
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

spot17.525405570527527
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 387 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: OMCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk