Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:12 AM ET

PI max pain

Spot (delayed)$167.07
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$180+7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.6±19.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.25236 puts / 943 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3087.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$98Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $200

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$180+7.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$135-19.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$150-10.2%81d
Fri, Apr 16$175+4.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot180105140175210245280$5M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot180105130155180210260515515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PI 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

spot180105130155180210260406406
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot105140175210245280118%88%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 200105130155180210260+$59K−$59K
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
0.85-0.181300.00500.10-0.18-0.14
0.82-0.201350.00580.12-0.20-0.17
0.79-0.221400.00660.13-0.22-0.21
0.75-0.241450.00730.15-0.24-0.25
0.71-0.261500.00800.16-0.26-0.29
0.66-0.281550.00860.17-0.28-0.33
0.62-0.291600.00910.18-0.29-0.38
0.57-0.291650.00940.18-0.29-0.43
0.52-0.291700.00960.18-0.30-0.48
0.48-0.291750.00960.18-0.29-0.52
0.43-0.291800.00950.18-0.29-0.57
0.39-0.281850.00930.18-0.28-0.61
0.35-0.271900.00890.17-0.27-0.65
0.31-0.261950.00850.16-0.26-0.69
0.28-0.242000.00800.15-0.25-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot47.5901201602002805520
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

spot47.590125170230320556556
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: PI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk