Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 1:10 AM ET

OZK max pain

Spot (delayed)$45
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$47.5+5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.63±8.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.854K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3029.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$226Kper 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, Oct 16$45+0.0%2d
Fri, Nov 20$47.5+5.6%37d
Fri, Jan 15$50+11.1%93d
Fri, Feb 19$50+11.1%128d
Fri, May 21$45+0.0%219d
Fri, Aug 20$42.5-5.6%310d
Fri, Jan 21$40-11.1%464d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47.5233038455360$7M$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 — 47.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot47.522.53037.54552.5602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OZK 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

spot47.522.53037.54552.5601010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot253239465360114%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot22.53037.54552.560+$202K−$202K
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
0.97-0.0127.50.00530.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01300.00740.01-0.01-0.04
0.95-0.0132.50.01060.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01350.01570.02-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0137.50.02420.02-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.01400.04020.03-0.02-0.14
0.75-0.0242.50.06810.05-0.02-0.25
0.55-0.02450.09290.06-0.02-0.46
0.32-0.0247.50.08890.05-0.02-0.70
0.15-0.01500.05710.03-0.01-0.87
0.09-0.0152.50.03390.02-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01550.02330.02-0.01-0.96
0.06-0.0157.50.01750.02-0.01-0.97
0.05-0.01600.01380.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot203542.55057.5702K0
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

spot2030405060757K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 21K 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: OZK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk