Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 19, 1:46 PM ET

ORBX max pain

Spot (delayed)$39
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40+2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.43±11.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.8713 puts / 15 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3050.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$367per 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$40+2.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$35-10.3%54d
Fri, Mar 19$50+28.2%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40384145485255$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot40384144501111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ORBX 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

spot403841445011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot38414548525578%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot38414450+$895−$895
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
0.49-0.03380.07150.04-0.04-0.53
0.36-0.03400.06590.04-0.03-0.66
0.30-0.03410.06060.04-0.03-0.72
0.22-0.03430.04890.03-0.03-0.81
0.18-0.03440.04320.03-0.03-0.84
0.16-0.02450.03810.03-0.02-0.87
0.08-0.01500.02030.02-0.02-0.95
0.04-0.01550.01160.01-0.01-0.99

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

spot30505666741052150
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

spot203951637587215215
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 687 call contracts, 29 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: ORBX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk