Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:56 PM ET

RLAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.33
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$17-7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.58±25.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.981K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3071.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18

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$17-7.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$19+3.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$17-7.3%144d
Thu, Jun 17$9-50.9%234d
Fri, Jan 21$20+9.1%452d
Fri, Jan 19$22+20.0%816d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17121518212427$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17121518212427917917
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RLAY 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

spot17121518212427100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot121518212427148%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 18121518212427+$19K−$19K
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
0.95-0.01120.02110.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01130.03010.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01140.04310.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.02150.06080.01-0.02-0.16
0.77-0.02160.08180.01-0.02-0.23
0.68-0.02170.10020.02-0.02-0.33
0.57-0.03180.10880.02-0.03-0.44
0.46-0.03190.10630.02-0.03-0.54
0.38-0.03200.09720.02-0.03-0.63
0.31-0.03210.08570.02-0.03-0.70
0.25-0.02220.07430.02-0.02-0.76
0.21-0.02230.06400.01-0.02-0.80
0.17-0.02240.05510.01-0.02-0.83
0.14-0.02250.04750.01-0.02-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3101520253K0
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

spot310152025355K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 11K 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: RLAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk