Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:19 PM ET

OSIS max pain

Spot (delayed)$197.48
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$195-1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.25±11.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.2329 puts / 13 calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$866per 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$195-1.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$200+1.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$185-6.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$195-1.3%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot195150166182198214230$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1951501751902002202020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OSIS 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

spot19515017519020022011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15016618219821423074%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot150175190200220+$3K−$3K
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
0.95-0.071500.00300.06-0.07-0.05
0.93-0.081550.00380.07-0.08-0.07
0.82-0.141750.00890.14-0.14-0.18
0.71-0.171850.01210.19-0.17-0.29
0.65-0.181900.01350.20-0.18-0.35
0.58-0.191950.01450.21-0.19-0.42
0.51-0.192000.01480.22-0.19-0.50
0.37-0.182100.01390.21-0.18-0.64
0.26-0.162200.01150.18-0.16-0.75
0.18-0.132300.00890.14-0.14-0.83

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

spot1101752102703304302K0
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

spot1051451852503304102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 226 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: OSIS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk