Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 9:44 AM ET

RCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$281.51
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$275-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.8±11.3% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI0.23120 puts / 530 calls
Call wall$295largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3048.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$347Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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$255-9.4%2d
Fri, Oct 23$250-11.2%9d
Fri, Oct 30$250-11.2%16d
Fri, Nov 6$270-4.1%23d
Fri, Nov 13$275-2.3%30d
Fri, Nov 20$260-7.6%37d
Fri, Nov 27$280-0.5%44d
Fri, Dec 18$280-0.5%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot275205236267298329360$3M$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 — 275 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot275205235265290315350233233
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RCL 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

spot27520523526529031535044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot20523626729832936070%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spotflip 290205235265290315350+$181K−$181K
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
0.88-0.132400.00480.17-0.14-0.13
0.82-0.172500.00640.22-0.18-0.18
0.78-0.192550.00720.24-0.20-0.22
0.74-0.212600.00790.27-0.21-0.26
0.70-0.232650.00860.29-0.23-0.30
0.65-0.242700.00910.30-0.24-0.35
0.60-0.252750.00960.32-0.25-0.40
0.55-0.252800.00980.33-0.26-0.45
0.50-0.262850.01000.33-0.26-0.50
0.46-0.252900.01000.33-0.26-0.55
0.41-0.252950.00980.32-0.25-0.60
0.36-0.243000.00950.31-0.24-0.64
0.32-0.233050.00900.29-0.23-0.69
0.28-0.213100.00850.28-0.21-0.73
0.24-0.193150.00790.26-0.20-0.77

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

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160227.5252.5277.5302.53409340
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

spot90160205252.529037014K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 47K call contracts, 64K 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: RCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk