Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:45 PM ET

PAA max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.7
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$22-17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45±5.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1812K puts / 67K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3021.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$24-10.1%4d
Fri, Nov 6$23-13.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$24.5-8.2%18d
Fri, Nov 20$22-17.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$24-10.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$24-10.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$25-6.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$22-17.6%81d
Fri, Feb 19$24-10.1%116d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22141721242831$47M$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2214182224.526.53021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAA 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

spot2214182224.526.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot18202325283091%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2514182224.526.530+$2.4M−$2.4M
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
1.000.0022.50.00210.00-0.01-0.06
1.000.00230.00470.00-0.01-0.07
0.99-0.00240.02600.00-0.01-0.13
0.98-0.0024.50.06260.00-0.01-0.18
0.94-0.01250.13830.01-0.01-0.24
0.86-0.0125.50.26170.01-0.01-0.34
0.70-0.02260.37620.02-0.01-0.46
0.51-0.0226.50.37170.03-0.01-0.58
0.34-0.01270.28250.03-0.01-0.69
0.17-0.01280.14440.02-0.01-0.82
0.10-0.01290.08470.01-0.01-0.89
0.06-0.01300.05280.01-0.01-0.93
0.04-0.00310.03420.01-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1417212425.5274210
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

spot31620.52427.53145K45K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 211K call contracts, 35K 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: PAA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk