Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:03 AM ET

SAIA max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.14
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$350+5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.5±13.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.96358 puts / 374 calls
Call wall$400largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3057.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $400

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$350+5.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$300-9.7%53d
Fri, Mar 19$350+5.4%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot350220276332388444500$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 — 350 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot350220270310350390225225
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SAIA 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

spot3502202703103503902323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot22027633238844450094%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 400220250300330360390+$109K−$109K
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
0.96-0.072500.00140.07-0.07-0.04
0.91-0.152700.00290.15-0.15-0.09
0.87-0.202800.00380.19-0.20-0.13
0.82-0.252900.00480.24-0.25-0.18
0.77-0.293000.00570.28-0.29-0.23
0.70-0.333100.00640.32-0.34-0.30
0.63-0.363200.00700.35-0.36-0.37
0.56-0.383300.00730.36-0.38-0.45
0.48-0.393400.00740.37-0.39-0.52
0.41-0.383500.00720.36-0.38-0.59
0.35-0.363600.00680.34-0.36-0.65
0.29-0.333700.00620.32-0.34-0.71
0.24-0.303800.00560.29-0.31-0.76
0.20-0.273900.00500.25-0.28-0.81
0.16-0.244000.00430.22-0.24-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot1602603304004706001K0
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

spot1602103003904805701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 873 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: SAIA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk