Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 7:04 PM ET

RGLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$231.71
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$240+3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.3±9.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.09676 puts / 623 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$112Kper 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 16$250+7.9%1d
Fri, Nov 20$240+3.6%36d
Fri, Dec 18$220-5.1%64d
Fri, Jan 15$220-5.1%92d
Fri, Apr 16$230-0.7%183d
Thu, Jun 17$220-5.1%245d
Fri, Sep 17$195-15.8%337d
Fri, Jan 21$200-13.7%463d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot240155198241284327370$6M$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 — 240 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot240155200240280320370192192
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RGLD 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

spot2401552002402803203701010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15519824128432737080%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot155200240280320370+$91K−$91K
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
0.99—1550.00040.01-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.011800.00210.05-0.03-0.03
0.94-0.041900.00370.09-0.05-0.06
0.92-0.051950.00490.11-0.06-0.08
0.89-0.062000.00620.14-0.07-0.11
0.81-0.102100.00940.20-0.11-0.19
0.70-0.132200.01240.25-0.13-0.30
0.56-0.152300.01430.29-0.15-0.44
0.42-0.152400.01420.28-0.15-0.58
0.29-0.132500.01240.25-0.13-0.71
0.20-0.112600.00980.20-0.10-0.81
0.13-0.082700.00730.15-0.07-0.89
0.08-0.062800.00520.11-0.05-0.93
0.05-0.042900.00360.08-0.03-0.97
0.03-0.033000.00240.06-0.03-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801301702203003807900
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

spot801251702303204101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 9K 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: RGLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk