Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:18 AM ET

PLTG max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.46
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$18-16.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.93±27.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.68389 puts / 231 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV30126.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 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$18-16.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$10-53.4%54d
Fri, Mar 19$13-39.4%145d
Thu, Jun 17$25+16.5%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18111417212427$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 — 18 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot18111417202326314314
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLTG 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

spot1811141720232611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot111417212427169%121%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 127.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot111417202326+$6K−$6K
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
0.89-0.03140.02180.01-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.04150.02640.01-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.04160.03120.01-0.04-0.18
0.78-0.04170.03600.02-0.04-0.22
0.74-0.05180.04060.02-0.05-0.26
0.69-0.05190.04480.02-0.05-0.31
0.64-0.05200.04810.02-0.05-0.36
0.59-0.05210.05060.02-0.05-0.41
0.53-0.05220.05220.02-0.05-0.46
0.48-0.05230.05270.02-0.05-0.51
0.43-0.05240.05240.02-0.05-0.56
0.39-0.05250.05120.02-0.05-0.61
0.34-0.05260.04940.02-0.05-0.65
0.30-0.05270.04710.02-0.05-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot310141822261880
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

spot2814202632315315
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 566 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: PLTG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk