Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:59 PM ET

ROOT max pain

Spot (delayed)$52.88
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$50-5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.4±19.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.361K puts / 840 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3083.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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$50-5.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$50-5.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$55+4.0%81d
Fri, Mar 19$50-5.4%144d
Thu, Jun 17$40-24.4%234d
Fri, Jan 21$45-14.9%452d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50304050607080$2M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot50304050607080398398
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROOT 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

spot503040506070804040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot304050607080140%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 60304050607080+$22K−$22K
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
0.98-0.01300.00300.01-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.03350.00700.01-0.03-0.05
0.89-0.04400.01380.03-0.05-0.11
0.79-0.07450.02230.04-0.07-0.21
0.65-0.08500.02950.06-0.09-0.36
0.49-0.09550.03210.06-0.09-0.52
0.35-0.08600.02970.05-0.08-0.66
0.24-0.07650.02450.04-0.07-0.78
0.16-0.06700.01880.04-0.06-0.86
0.11-0.04750.01380.03-0.04-0.91
0.07-0.03800.01000.02-0.03-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.550901301702208460
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

spot17.55090130170220930930
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 3K 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: ROOT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk