Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:46 AM ET

PRN max pain

Spot (delayed)$193.41
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$195+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.95±7.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI11.0011 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$186largest put OI
IV3035.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7Kper 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$195+0.8%25d
Fri, Dec 18$225+16.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$215+11.2%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot195186191196200205210$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 — 195 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot19518619119521088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PRN 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

spot19518619119521011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot18619119620020521037%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot186191195210+$5K−$5K
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
0.66-0.131860.01820.20-0.13-0.34
0.57-0.141910.02030.21-0.14-0.43
0.48-0.141950.02100.21-0.14-0.51
0.22-0.102100.01530.16-0.10-0.78

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

spot130199220240300210
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

spot1101651902052603154141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 66 call contracts, 76 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: PRN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk