Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 11:37 PM ET

PBA max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.69
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$45-7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.13±8.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.09109 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3017.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$110Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$45-7.6%7d
Fri, Sep 18$50+2.7%35d
Fri, Oct 16$45-7.6%63d
Fri, Nov 20$45-7.6%98d
Fri, Feb 19$40-17.8%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45233140485765$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4522.535455565410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PBA 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

spot4522.5354555651010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30374451586561%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 3022.535455565+$54K$54K
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
1.0022.50.00080.00-0.00-0.01
0.99300.00330.01-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.00350.00860.02-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01400.02290.04-0.01-0.10
0.77-0.01450.05710.08-0.01-0.24
0.41-0.01500.08060.10-0.01-0.61
0.16-0.01550.04340.06-0.01-0.87
0.07-0.00600.02080.04-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00650.01110.02-0.98

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

spot2535404550556K0
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

spot20304560757K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 2K 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: PBA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk