Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 8:25 PM ET

ON max pain

Spot (delayed)$77.08
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$70-9.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.33±14.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.348K puts / 23K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3064.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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, Oct 30$74-4.0%3d
Fri, Nov 6$77-0.1%10d
Fri, Nov 13$74-4.0%17d
Fri, Nov 20$70-9.2%24d
Fri, Nov 27$76-1.4%31d
Fri, Dec 4$77-0.1%38d
Fri, Dec 18$75-2.7%52d
Fri, Jan 15$75-2.7%80d
Fri, Feb 19$80+3.8%115d
Fri, Mar 19$100+29.7%143d
Fri, Apr 16$75-2.7%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot703551678399115$86M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot703563697581907K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ON 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

spot703563697581909K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3551678399115157%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 70356369758190+$1.0M−$1.0M
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
0.77-0.09700.02120.06-0.09-0.23
0.75-0.09710.02250.06-0.09-0.25
0.72-0.10720.02360.07-0.10-0.28
0.70-0.10730.02470.07-0.10-0.30
0.67-0.10740.02570.07-0.11-0.33
0.64-0.11750.02660.07-0.11-0.36
0.61-0.11760.02730.08-0.11-0.38
0.59-0.11770.02790.08-0.11-0.41
0.56-0.11780.02830.08-0.11-0.44
0.53-0.12790.02860.08-0.12-0.47
0.50-0.12800.02880.08-0.12-0.50
0.47-0.11810.02880.08-0.11-0.53
0.45-0.11820.02860.08-0.11-0.56
0.42-0.11830.02830.08-0.11-0.58
0.39-0.11840.02790.08-0.11-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot45647280881004K0
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

spot205570849814515K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 156K call contracts, 115K 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: ON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk