Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 12:52 AM ET

PPTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.9
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$20+18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.8±16.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.202K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3062.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$63Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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 16$22.5+33.1%1d
Fri, Nov 20$20+18.3%36d
Fri, Dec 18$20+18.3%64d
Fri, Jan 15$20+18.3%92d
Fri, Mar 19$25+47.9%155d
Fri, May 21$22.5+33.1%218d
Fri, Aug 20$20+18.3%309d
Fri, Nov 19$25+47.9%400d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2031222314150$21M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot202.512.52030453K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PPTA 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

spot202.512.52030453K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot101826344250178%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 102.512.5203045+$28K−$28K
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—2.50.00040.00-0.00-0.00
1.00—50.00120.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.00100.01000.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0112.50.03030.01-0.01-0.07
0.80-0.01150.07840.02-0.01-0.20
0.54-0.0217.50.11560.02-0.02-0.47
0.29-0.02200.09550.02-0.02-0.72
0.15-0.0122.50.06050.01-0.01-0.86
0.07-0.01250.03520.01-0.01-0.94
0.02-0.00300.01160.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00350.00410.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00400.00150.00-0.00-1.00
0.000.00450.00060.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.512.52030455K0
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

spot2.51017.5254012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 48K call contracts, 16K 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: PPTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk