Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 12:02 AM ET

SE max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.51
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$97+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.48±9.1% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI1.28570 puts / 447 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3062.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$41Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 23$97+3.7%7d
Fri, Oct 30$100+6.9%14d
Fri, Nov 6$97+3.7%21d
Fri, Nov 13$95+1.6%28d
Fri, Nov 20$105+12.3%35d
Fri, Nov 27$94+0.5%42d
Fri, Dec 18$120+28.3%63d
Fri, Jan 15$100+6.9%91d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot97657789101113125$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 — 97 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot97658895102109116134134
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SE open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot976588951021091163838
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot657789101113125121%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot658895102109116+$27K−$27K
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.08870.02780.07-0.08-0.23
0.74-0.09880.02990.07-0.09-0.27
0.71-0.09890.03190.08-0.09-0.30
0.68-0.09900.03360.08-0.09-0.33
0.64-0.10910.03520.09-0.10-0.36
0.60-0.10920.03650.09-0.10-0.40
0.57-0.10930.03740.09-0.10-0.44
0.53-0.10940.03800.09-0.10-0.48
0.49-0.10950.03820.09-0.10-0.52
0.45-0.10960.03810.09-0.10-0.56
0.42-0.10970.03750.09-0.10-0.59
0.38-0.09980.03670.09-0.10-0.63
0.35-0.09990.03550.08-0.09-0.66
0.31-0.091000.03410.08-0.09-0.70
0.28-0.081010.03250.08-0.09-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot75951031111191304600
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

spot407087.511014518017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 120K call contracts, 83K 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: SE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk