Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 3:47 AM ET

PFE max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.38
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$28.5+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.71±6.0% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.636K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$28.5largest call OI
Put wall$33.5largest put OI
IV3025.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$815Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $21
Earnings · expectedTue, Nov 3usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$27-4.9%2d
Fri, Oct 23$27-4.9%9d
Fri, Oct 30$28-1.3%16d
Fri, Nov 6$28.5+0.4%23d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Nov 3)
Fri, Nov 13$27-4.9%30d
Fri, Nov 20$27-4.9%37d
Fri, Nov 27$27-4.9%44d
Fri, Dec 18$26-8.4%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28.5151923273135$9M$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 — 28.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot28.51524.52729.532352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PFE open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot28.51524.52729.53235310310
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot21242729323586%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 211524.52729.53235+$229K−$229K
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00250.04050.01-0.01-0.07
0.94-0.0125.50.05940.01-0.01-0.10
0.90-0.01260.08470.01-0.01-0.14
0.85-0.0126.50.11570.02-0.01-0.21
0.79-0.01270.14990.02-0.01-0.28
0.71-0.0127.50.18260.02-0.01-0.38
0.61-0.01280.20670.03-0.02-0.48
0.50-0.0228.50.21540.03-0.01-0.58
0.40-0.01290.20800.03-0.01-0.68
0.30-0.0129.50.18720.03-0.01-0.76
0.22-0.01300.15870.02-0.01-0.83
0.16-0.0130.50.12710.02-0.01-0.88
0.12-0.01310.09880.01-0.01-0.91
0.09-0.0131.50.07630.01-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01320.05940.01-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot142124.52831.53642K0
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

spot132125293340261K261K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.3M call contracts, 988K 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: PFE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk