Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 11:28 PM ET

Q max pain

Spot (delayed)$122.9
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$130+5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18.4±15.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.343K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3057.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$397Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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, Oct 16$130+5.8%2d
Fri, Nov 20$130+5.8%37d
Fri, Dec 18$145+18.0%65d
Fri, Feb 19$140+13.9%128d
Fri, May 21$115-6.4%219d
Fri, Jan 21$120-2.4%464d
Fri, Jan 19$100-18.6%828d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1306098136174212250$83M$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13060901201501802206K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Q 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

spot13060901201501802204040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6098136174212250145%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1706090120150180220+$469K−$469K
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
0.94-0.04900.00460.05-0.04-0.06
0.91-0.05950.00640.06-0.05-0.09
0.87-0.071000.00860.08-0.07-0.13
0.81-0.081050.01100.10-0.08-0.18
0.75-0.101100.01350.13-0.10-0.25
0.67-0.111150.01560.14-0.11-0.33
0.59-0.121200.01700.15-0.12-0.41
0.50-0.121250.01760.16-0.12-0.50
0.42-0.111300.01730.15-0.11-0.58
0.34-0.111350.01620.14-0.11-0.66
0.27-0.101400.01460.13-0.10-0.73
0.21-0.091450.01270.12-0.08-0.79
0.17-0.071500.01080.10-0.07-0.83
0.13-0.061550.00900.08-0.06-0.87
0.10-0.051600.00740.07-0.05-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot65951251551852307K0
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

spot609012015018022011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 31K 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: Q workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk