Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 2:53 PM ET

RKLB max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.64
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$60+11.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.98±18.6% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.554K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3078.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$156Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$56+4.4%4d
Fri, Nov 6$60+11.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$60+11.9%18d
Fri, Nov 20$59+10.0%25d
Fri, Nov 27$60+11.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$60+11.9%39d
Fri, Dec 18$60+11.9%53d
Fri, Jan 15$50-6.8%81d
Fri, Mar 19$70+30.5%144d
Fri, Apr 16$65+21.2%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot603548617487100$21M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot603548576675853K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RKLB open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot603548576675856868
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot3548617487100124%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 65354857667585+$202K−$202K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.75-0.06470.02470.05-0.06-0.25
0.72-0.07480.02630.05-0.07-0.28
0.69-0.07490.02770.06-0.07-0.30
0.66-0.07500.02900.06-0.07-0.34
0.63-0.07510.03000.06-0.07-0.37
0.60-0.07520.03090.06-0.07-0.40
0.57-0.07530.03160.06-0.08-0.43
0.54-0.08540.03200.06-0.08-0.46
0.51-0.08550.03220.06-0.08-0.49
0.47-0.08560.03230.06-0.08-0.53
0.44-0.07570.03210.06-0.07-0.56
0.41-0.07580.03170.06-0.07-0.59
0.38-0.07590.03110.06-0.07-0.62
0.36-0.07600.03040.06-0.07-0.64
0.33-0.07610.02950.06-0.07-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3849576675857K0
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

spot235546611517070K70K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 700K call contracts, 534K 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: RKLB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk