Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:16 PM ET

SHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.39
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$7.5-59.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.25±12.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.001 puts / 560 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3046.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24Kper 1% move

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$7.5-59.2%25d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5-32.0%53d
Fri, Feb 19$15-18.4%116d
Fri, May 21$17.5-4.8%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.581115182225$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7.57.51012.517.52025433433
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SHC 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

spot7.57.51012.517.5202511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7.51012.517.52025+$19K−$19K
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
0.98-0.017.50.00670.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01100.01360.00-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0112.50.02820.01-0.01-0.07
0.66-0.0217.50.15190.02-0.02-0.34
0.30-0.02200.12720.02-0.02-0.69
0.12-0.02250.04520.01-0.02-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.512.517.522.5304590
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530459459
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 632 call contracts, 8 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: SHC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk