Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 11:08 PM ET

SKYW max pain

Spot (delayed)$93.03
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$95+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.65±10.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5670 puts / 126 calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3039.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 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, Nov 20$95+2.1%26d
Fri, Dec 18$90-3.3%54d
Fri, Jan 15$92.5-0.6%82d
Fri, Apr 16$70-24.8%173d
Fri, May 21$100+7.5%208d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot95708090100110120$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot957090951001101204747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SKYW 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

spot9570909510011012011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot70809010011012072%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 110709095100110120+$10K−$10K
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
0.96-0.02700.00500.02-0.02-0.04
0.80-0.06850.02500.07-0.06-0.21
0.65-0.07900.03530.10-0.07-0.36
0.55-0.0792.50.03840.10-0.07-0.45
0.46-0.07950.03910.10-0.07-0.55
0.36-0.0797.50.03710.10-0.07-0.64
0.28-0.061000.03320.09-0.06-0.72
0.16-0.041050.02330.06-0.05-0.85
0.09-0.031100.01490.04-0.03-0.92
0.05-0.021150.00920.03-0.02-0.96
0.03-0.011200.00570.02-0.01-0.98

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

spot459097.51101251501350
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

spot42.56585100130160135135
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 379 call contracts, 156 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: SKYW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk