Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:38 AM ET

PL max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.94
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17+31.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.28±17.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.265K puts / 20K calls
Call wall$26largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV3070.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $26

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 23$14.5+12.1%today
Fri, Oct 30$15+15.9%7d
Fri, Nov 6$14.5+12.1%14d
Fri, Nov 13$16+23.6%21d
Fri, Nov 20$17+31.4%28d
Fri, Nov 27$15+15.9%35d
Fri, Dec 18$17+31.4%56d
Fri, Jan 15$20+54.6%84d
Fri, Apr 16$17+31.4%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1791420253136$24M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17913.516.52127336K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PL 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

spot17913.516.5212733430430
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot91420253136293%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 26913.516.5212733+$12K−$12K
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
0.94-0.0190.03480.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01100.05800.01-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.01110.09190.01-0.01-0.18
0.70-0.01120.12890.01-0.02-0.30
0.63-0.0212.50.14280.01-0.02-0.37
0.56-0.02130.15060.01-0.02-0.44
0.48-0.0213.50.15180.01-0.02-0.52
0.41-0.02140.14730.01-0.02-0.59
0.35-0.0214.50.13840.01-0.02-0.65
0.30-0.02150.12700.01-0.01-0.71
0.25-0.0115.50.11450.01-0.01-0.76
0.21-0.01160.10190.01-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.0116.50.09000.01-0.01-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot612151821264K0
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

spot311.51722.5334418K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 162K call contracts, 70K 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: PL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk