Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:59 PM ET

PTF max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.71
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$104-1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.2±13.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.93201 puts / 217 calls
Call wall$101largest call OI
Put wall$106largest put OI
IV3060.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $101

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$104-1.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$105-0.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$85-19.6%145d
Thu, Jun 17$80-24.3%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot104758799111123135$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 — 104 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1047595103110117130100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PTF 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

spot10475951031101171302828
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot75879911112313592%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1017595103110117130+$25K−$25K
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
0.68-0.13990.01830.10-0.13-0.32
0.66-0.131000.01900.11-0.13-0.34
0.64-0.131010.01960.11-0.13-0.36
0.62-0.131020.02020.11-0.13-0.38
0.60-0.131030.02080.11-0.13-0.40
0.58-0.131040.02130.12-0.13-0.42
0.56-0.131050.02180.12-0.13-0.45
0.53-0.131060.02220.12-0.13-0.47
0.46-0.121090.02310.12-0.12-0.54
0.44-0.121100.02320.12-0.12-0.56
0.42-0.121110.02320.11-0.12-0.59
0.39-0.111120.02320.11-0.12-0.61
0.32-0.101150.02230.10-0.10-0.68
0.30-0.101160.02190.10-0.10-0.70
0.28-0.091170.02130.10-0.10-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50901021101191552000
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

spot458899110121175200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 845 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: PTF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk