Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 12:29 AM ET

PLAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.01
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$7-0.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.2±17.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.343K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3078.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$7-0.1%24d
Fri, Dec 18$7-0.1%52d
Fri, Jan 15$10+42.7%80d
Fri, Apr 16$6-14.4%171d
Fri, Dec 17$10+42.7%416d
Fri, Jan 21$3-57.2%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7257101215$7M$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot72681013157K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLAY 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

spot72681013158383
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot257101215287%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 75791114+$63K−$63K
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
1.00—20.00140.000.00-0.00
0.93-0.0150.07350.00-0.01-0.07
0.80-0.0160.17100.01-0.01-0.20
0.57-0.0170.26880.01-0.01-0.43
0.31-0.0180.24840.01-0.01-0.69
0.15-0.0190.15920.00-0.01-0.85
0.08-0.00100.09220.00-0.00-0.93
0.04-0.00110.05440.00-0.00-0.96
0.02-0.00130.02220.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00140.01520.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00150.01090.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot28142337557K0
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

spot17132030457K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 9K 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: PLAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk