Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 1:57 AM ET

PLCE max pain

Spot (delayed)$1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$2+100.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.39±38.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.0524 puts / 532 calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30186.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$177per 1% move

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$2+100.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$2+100.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$3+200.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$2+100.0%144d
Thu, Jun 17$2+100.0%234d
Fri, Jan 21$3+200.0%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2223344$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2234331331
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLCE 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

spot223411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Greeks by strike · Fri, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.15-0.0020.44800.00-0.00-0.86
0.05-0.0030.18770.00-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.0040.09820.000.00-0.99

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

spot1471220302K0
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

spot1471220309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 17K 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: PLCE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk