Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:16 PM ET

OMDA max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.95
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20+5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.13±16.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.01339 puts / 169 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3069.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6Kper 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$20+5.5%25d
Fri, Dec 18$20+5.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-34.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$20+5.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$17.5-7.7%172d
Fri, Dec 17$7.5-60.4%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20151719212325$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot201517.52022.525260260
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OMDA 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

spot201517.52022.5251717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15171921232599%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1517.52022.525+$8K−$8K
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
0.86-0.02150.04680.01-0.02-0.14
0.70-0.0217.50.09060.02-0.02-0.30
0.44-0.03200.10620.02-0.03-0.56
0.26-0.0222.50.07840.02-0.02-0.75
0.16-0.02250.05300.01-0.02-0.85

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

spot7.512.517.522.5305K0
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

spot2.51017.525405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K 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: OMDA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk