Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 12:18 AM ET

QS max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.02
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$0.5-87.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.46±11.6% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI0.07292 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV3071.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 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, Oct 30$4-0.5%5d
Fri, Nov 6$4-0.5%12d
Fri, Nov 13$0.5-87.6%19d
Fri, Nov 20$4-0.5%26d
Fri, Nov 27$0.5-87.6%33d
Fri, Dec 4$0.5-87.6%40d
Fri, Dec 18$5+24.4%54d
Fri, Jan 15$5+24.4%82d
Fri, Feb 19$5+24.4%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5124579$2M$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 13

spot0.50.523.556.58830830
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot0.50.523.556.58206206
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot345678208%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot0.523.556.58+$4K−$4K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.00390.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0010.00990.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.001.50.01970.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0020.03710.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.002.50.07170.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0030.15530.00-0.00-0.07
0.82-0.003.50.36940.00-0.00-0.18
0.56-0.0140.55270.00-0.01-0.44
0.33-0.014.50.46100.00-0.01-0.68
0.19-0.0150.31450.00-0.01-0.81
0.12-0.015.50.21080.00-0.01-0.88
0.09-0.0060.15070.00-0.00-0.92
0.07-0.006.50.11520.00-0.00-0.94
0.06-0.0070.09260.00-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.007.50.07690.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.55K0
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

spot0.53.56.59.5153093K93K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 560K call contracts, 132K 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: QS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk