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

ROP max pain

Spot (delayed)$437
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$380-13.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.75±6.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.641K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$380largest put OI
IV3029.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $380

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$380-13.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$410-6.2%53d
Fri, Feb 19$380-13.0%116d
Fri, May 21$350-19.9%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380190272354436518600$33M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot380190250320390460530328328
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROP 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

spot3801902503203904605307373
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot220296372448524600110%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 380280330380430480530+$328K−$328K
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
0.96-0.073700.00220.11-0.07-0.04
0.93-0.103800.00310.16-0.10-0.07
0.90-0.133900.00430.21-0.12-0.10
0.85-0.164000.00580.28-0.16-0.14
0.79-0.194100.00760.35-0.19-0.21
0.71-0.224200.00940.42-0.22-0.29
0.60-0.254300.01070.47-0.24-0.39
0.49-0.254400.01120.48-0.25-0.50
0.39-0.244500.01080.46-0.24-0.61
0.29-0.224600.00960.41-0.22-0.71
0.21-0.184700.00790.35-0.18-0.79
0.15-0.154800.00630.28-0.15-0.85
0.10-0.124900.00480.22-0.12-0.89
0.07-0.095000.00360.17-0.10-0.93
0.05-0.075100.00270.13-0.08-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2002803604305005803690
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

spot185250330410490580371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: ROP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk