Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:32 PM ET

SJM max pain

Spot (delayed)$129.98
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.7±5.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.101K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3026.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$693Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125

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$120-7.7%27d
Fri, Dec 18$120-7.7%55d
Fri, Jan 15$110-15.4%83d
Fri, Apr 16$135+3.9%174d
Fri, Jan 21$90-30.8%454d
Fri, Jan 19$95-26.9%818d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12090102114126138150$3M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120901051201351501K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SJM 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

spot120901051201351504949
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9010211412613815069%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12590105120135150+$424K−$424K
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
0.99-0.01950.00090.01-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.011000.00160.01-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.011050.00300.01-0.02-0.03
0.97-0.021100.00560.02-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.031150.01110.04-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.041200.02180.07-0.04-0.16
0.74-0.061250.03740.11-0.06-0.31
0.52-0.071300.04590.14-0.07-0.52
0.32-0.071350.03840.13-0.06-0.70
0.18-0.051400.02610.10-0.05-0.82
0.11-0.041450.01680.07-0.04-0.90
0.07-0.031500.01080.05-0.03-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50851101351601851K0
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

spot50751001251501752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K 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: SJM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk