Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:08 AM ET

SKUU max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.85
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$21+41.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±30.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.681K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$29largest put OI
IV30132.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12

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$21+41.4%26d
Fri, Dec 18$20+34.7%54d
Fri, Mar 19$17+14.5%145d
Thu, Jun 17$9-39.4%235d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot21111825313845$5M$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 — 21 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot21111621263136992992
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKUU 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

spot21111621263136185185
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot111825313845218%120%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 135.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12111621263136+$8K−$8K
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
0.83-0.03110.04310.01-0.03-0.16
0.78-0.03120.05300.01-0.03-0.22
0.71-0.03130.06140.01-0.03-0.29
0.64-0.04140.06750.01-0.04-0.36
0.57-0.04150.07100.02-0.04-0.43
0.50-0.04160.07190.02-0.04-0.50
0.43-0.04170.07070.02-0.04-0.56
0.38-0.04180.06800.02-0.04-0.62
0.32-0.04190.06410.01-0.04-0.67
0.28-0.03200.05950.01-0.03-0.72
0.24-0.03210.05460.01-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.03220.04960.01-0.03-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot514202632381K0
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

spot110192837461K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 4K 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: SKUU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk