Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 12:18 AM ET

PROK max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.46
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$0.5-65.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.38±26.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.035 puts / 158 calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV30107.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84per 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$0.5-65.8%31d
Fri, Jan 15$2+37.0%87d
Fri, Apr 16$2+37.0%178d
Fri, Jan 21$1-31.5%458d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112233$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot0.50.511.523119119
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PROK 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

spot0.50.511.52333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot112233483%101%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 193.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot0.511.523+$68−$68
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
0.97-0.000.50.06470.00-0.00-0.03
0.88-0.0010.36330.00-0.00-0.13
0.52-0.001.50.90020.00-0.00-0.48
0.25-0.0020.59440.00-0.00-0.76
0.11-0.0030.26670.00-0.00-0.90

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

spot0.51.5354K0
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

spot0.51.5356K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 620 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: PROK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk