Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:30 PM ET

SLDB max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.92
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$6+1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.53±25.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1686 puts / 539 calls
Call wall$6largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV30101.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$6+1.4%25d
Fri, Dec 18$7+18.2%53d
Fri, Jan 15$7+18.2%81d
Fri, Mar 19$2-66.2%144d
Thu, Jun 17$3-49.3%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot61356810$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 — 6 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot61467810436436
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SLDB 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

spot6146781055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4568910268%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 122.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 4467810+$4K−$4K
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
0.99-0.0010.00390.00-0.00-0.01
0.90-0.0140.08310.00-0.01-0.10
0.54-0.0160.23800.01-0.01-0.46
0.34-0.0170.20810.01-0.01-0.66
0.22-0.0180.15570.01-0.01-0.79
0.10-0.01100.08180.00-0.01-0.91

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

spot171013162K0
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

spot15913172K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 164 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: SLDB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk