Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 2:48 AM ET

PVLA max pain

Spot (delayed)$126.3
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120-5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.85±12.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.0967 puts / 706 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3054.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$150Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$120-5.0%28d
Fri, Dec 18$100-20.8%56d
Fri, Feb 19$95-24.8%119d
Fri, May 21$125-1.0%210d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12065100135170205240$7M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1206595125150185230308308
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PVLA 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

spot120659512515018523011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot65100135170205240157%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8565110135160195+$68K−$68K
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
0.94-0.05850.00330.04-0.07-0.06
0.93-0.06900.00430.05-0.08-0.07
0.91-0.07950.00550.06-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.081000.00720.07-0.09-0.12
0.80-0.101100.01190.10-0.11-0.20
0.74-0.111150.01500.12-0.12-0.26
0.66-0.121200.01800.13-0.13-0.34
0.56-0.131250.02010.14-0.13-0.44
0.46-0.131300.02030.14-0.13-0.54
0.37-0.131350.01890.13-0.13-0.63
0.30-0.121400.01670.12-0.12-0.70
0.24-0.111450.01430.11-0.11-0.76
0.20-0.111500.01220.10-0.10-0.80
0.17-0.101550.01030.09-0.09-0.84
0.14-0.091600.00880.08-0.08-0.86

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

spot55901201451701953220
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

spot5585115145175210322322
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 80 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: PVLA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk