Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:42 AM ET

ONC max pain

Spot (delayed)$377.63
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$350-7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32±8.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.88509 puts / 579 calls
Call wall$390largest call OI
Put wall$330largest put OI
IV3038.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$324Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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$350-7.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$340-10.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$360-4.7%116d
Fri, May 21$390+3.3%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350175248321394467540$9M$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot350175220280340400460202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ONC 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

spot35017522028034040046011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot185256327398469540148%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 290195240290350400450+$241K−$241K
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
0.94-0.113100.00240.13-0.11-0.06
0.91-0.133200.00320.16-0.13-0.09
0.88-0.163300.00430.21-0.16-0.12
0.83-0.193400.00560.26-0.19-0.16
0.77-0.233500.00700.32-0.23-0.23
0.70-0.263600.00840.37-0.26-0.30
0.61-0.283700.00950.40-0.28-0.40
0.51-0.293800.00990.42-0.29-0.49
0.41-0.283900.00960.41-0.28-0.59
0.33-0.264000.00880.38-0.27-0.68
0.26-0.244100.00770.34-0.24-0.75
0.20-0.214200.00640.29-0.22-0.81
0.15-0.184300.00530.25-0.19-0.85
0.12-0.164400.00440.21-0.17-0.89
0.09-0.144500.00350.18-0.15-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1852803404004605402790
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

spot155195270350430510283283
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 634 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: ONC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk