Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:40 AM ET

QURE max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.66
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$26+14.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.32±23.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5012K puts / 23K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV30107.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$199Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$26+14.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$35+54.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$25+10.3%81d
Fri, Apr 16$40+76.5%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot26122537506275$92M$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2612202836445511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QURE 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

spot26122028364455280280
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot122537506275288%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 105.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 30122028364455+$237K−$237K
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
0.88-0.03160.02610.01-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.03170.03180.01-0.03-0.16
0.81-0.04180.03790.02-0.04-0.20
0.76-0.04190.04400.02-0.04-0.24
0.71-0.04200.04960.02-0.04-0.29
0.65-0.04210.05420.02-0.05-0.35
0.59-0.05220.05730.02-0.05-0.41
0.54-0.05230.05890.03-0.05-0.47
0.48-0.05240.05890.03-0.05-0.52
0.43-0.05250.05770.02-0.05-0.58
0.38-0.05260.05540.02-0.05-0.63
0.34-0.04270.05260.02-0.05-0.67
0.30-0.04280.04930.02-0.04-0.71
0.27-0.04290.04600.02-0.04-0.74
0.24-0.04300.04260.02-0.04-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1162636467016K0
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

spot1132435467519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 143K call contracts, 37K 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: QURE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk