Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:54 PM ET

RDWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$28-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.1±13.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.44465 puts / 322 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3049.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $16

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$28-10.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$28-10.0%53d
Fri, Mar 19$30-3.5%144d
Thu, Jun 17$25-19.6%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28152127333945$1M$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot28152326293240363363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RDWR 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

spot281523262932401212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot162228333945232%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 16152326293240+$17K−$17K
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
0.92-0.02240.02340.01-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.02250.03000.01-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.02260.03840.02-0.02-0.13
0.83-0.02270.04870.02-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.03280.06090.03-0.03-0.22
0.72-0.03290.07390.03-0.03-0.28
0.64-0.03300.08550.03-0.03-0.36
0.55-0.03310.09280.03-0.03-0.45
0.46-0.03320.09350.03-0.03-0.55
0.37-0.03330.08810.03-0.03-0.63
0.11-0.02390.03560.02-0.02-0.90
0.09-0.01400.03020.01-0.02-0.92
0.04-0.01450.01450.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 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

spot15253034393570
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

spot152025303540515515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 723 call contracts, 1K 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: RDWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk