Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:11 AM ET

PRAX max pain

Spot (delayed)$252.96
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$290+14.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$53.7±21.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.47524 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3092.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$116Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

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$290+14.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$320+26.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$300+18.6%82d
Fri, Feb 19$240-5.1%117d
Fri, May 21$200-20.9%208d
Thu, Jun 17$350+38.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290145232319406493580$27M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot290145185240300360450317317
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PRAX 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

spot29014518524030036045055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145232319406493580166%88%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 190145190250310370500+$98K−$98K
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
0.91-0.191850.00250.12-0.19-0.09
0.89-0.221900.00280.13-0.22-0.11
0.85-0.272000.00350.16-0.27-0.15
0.81-0.322100.00420.19-0.32-0.19
0.75-0.362200.00490.22-0.36-0.25
0.69-0.402300.00540.24-0.40-0.30
0.64-0.432400.00580.26-0.44-0.37
0.57-0.452500.00600.28-0.46-0.43
0.51-0.472600.00610.28-0.47-0.49
0.46-0.472700.00600.28-0.47-0.55
0.40-0.462800.00580.27-0.46-0.60
0.35-0.442900.00560.26-0.45-0.65
0.31-0.423000.00520.25-0.43-0.69
0.27-0.403100.00490.23-0.41-0.73
0.24-0.383200.00450.22-0.38-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851552002903704501K0
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

spot851401953004105302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: PRAX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk