Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:50 AM ET

RRC max pain

Spot (delayed)$43.86
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.43±7.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.04299 puts / 8K calls
Call wall$47largest call OI
Put wall$41largest put OI
IV3034.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$40-8.8%28d
Fri, Dec 18$40-8.8%56d
Fri, Jan 15$40-8.8%84d
Fri, Mar 19$37-15.6%147d
Thu, Jun 17$45+2.6%237d
Fri, Jan 21$35-20.2%455d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40303438424650$4M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4030364044483K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RRC 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

spot403036404448100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30343842465088%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 403036404448+$455K−$455K
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
0.94-0.01370.02550.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01380.03420.02-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01390.04510.03-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.02400.05770.03-0.02-0.17
0.76-0.02410.07080.04-0.02-0.24
0.68-0.03420.08240.04-0.03-0.32
0.59-0.03430.09030.05-0.03-0.40
0.50-0.03440.09290.05-0.03-0.50
0.41-0.03450.09000.05-0.03-0.59
0.33-0.03460.08270.04-0.03-0.67
0.26-0.02470.07280.04-0.02-0.74
0.20-0.02480.06210.04-0.02-0.79
0.16-0.02490.05170.03-0.02-0.84
0.12-0.02500.04240.03-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20333944497015K0
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

spot20303540455015K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K 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: RRC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk