Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 11:59 PM ET

POWL max pain

Spot (delayed)$155.75
Max pain · Fri, Aug 20$120-23.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.45±50.4% by Fri, Aug 20
Put/Call OI0.0123 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3084.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$400Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$180+15.6%24d
Fri, Dec 18$140-10.1%52d
Fri, Feb 19$200+28.4%115d
Fri, May 21$170+9.1%206d
Fri, Aug 20$120-23.0%297d
Fri, Dec 17$170+9.1%416d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12085128171214257300$40M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spot120851201501752102703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)POWL open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 20

spot120851201501752102703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spot8512817121425730075%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 71.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 20

spotflip 11585120150175210270+$268K−$268K
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, Aug 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.041150.00260.39-0.05-0.20
0.79-0.041200.00280.41-0.05-0.22
0.76-0.041300.00300.45-0.05-0.25
0.74-0.051350.00320.47-0.06-0.27
0.72-0.051400.00330.48-0.06-0.29
0.70-0.051450.00340.50-0.06-0.31
0.68-0.051500.00350.51-0.06-0.33
0.66-0.061550.00360.52-0.06-0.35
0.65-0.061600.00360.53-0.06-0.37
0.63-0.061650.00370.54-0.06-0.39
0.61-0.061700.00380.55-0.06-0.41
0.59-0.061750.00380.55-0.06-0.42
0.57-0.061800.00390.56-0.06-0.44
0.54-0.061900.00390.56-0.06-0.48
0.52-0.061950.00390.57-0.06-0.50

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55135170203.33266.673602K0
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

spot90135170213.332703704K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 8K 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: POWL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk