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

SE max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.51
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105+12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.58±15.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.487K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3062.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$526Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

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, 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

spot105406896124152180$84M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1054065851051401755K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SE 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

spot105406585105140175582582
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot406896124152180188%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 110406582.597.5125155+$636K−$636K
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
0.89-0.05750.00990.06-0.05-0.11
0.86-0.0677.50.01190.07-0.06-0.14
0.82-0.07800.01400.08-0.07-0.18
0.78-0.0882.50.01600.09-0.08-0.22
0.73-0.09850.01790.10-0.09-0.27
0.69-0.0987.50.01950.10-0.09-0.32
0.63-0.10900.02080.11-0.10-0.37
0.58-0.1092.50.02170.11-0.10-0.43
0.52-0.10950.02220.12-0.10-0.48
0.47-0.1097.50.02220.12-0.10-0.54
0.42-0.101000.02180.11-0.10-0.59
0.32-0.091050.02000.10-0.09-0.69
0.24-0.081100.01730.09-0.08-0.77
0.17-0.071150.01430.07-0.07-0.84
0.13-0.051200.01140.06-0.06-0.89

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