Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:39 PM ET

SMH max pain

Spot (delayed)$544.74
Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$555+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.75±5.6% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI1.5131K puts / 20K calls
Call wall$590largest call OI
Put wall$500largest put OI
IV3038.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$16.0Mper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Oct 26$540-0.9%today
Wed, Oct 28$530-2.7%2d
Fri, Oct 30$555+1.9%4d
Mon, Nov 2$530-2.7%7d
Wed, Nov 4$552.5+1.4%9d
Fri, Nov 6$555+1.9%11d
Fri, Nov 20$590+8.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$550+1.0%53d
Fri, Jan 15$535-1.8%81d
Fri, Feb 19$570+4.6%116d
Fri, Mar 19$600+10.1%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot555390468546624702780$317M$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 — 555 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot555390480532.5567.559570015K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMH open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot555390480532.5567.559570020K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot39046854662470278093%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot390480532.5567.5595700+$22.0M−$22.0M
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.565150.00700.28-0.57-0.22
0.75-0.605200.00770.30-0.61-0.26
0.71-0.645250.00840.33-0.65-0.29
0.67-0.675300.00900.35-0.68-0.34
0.64-0.68532.50.00930.35-0.69-0.36
0.62-0.695350.00960.36-0.70-0.38
0.57-0.705400.01000.37-0.71-0.43
0.52-0.715450.01030.38-0.71-0.48
0.47-0.705500.01040.38-0.70-0.54
0.44-0.69552.50.01040.38-0.69-0.56
0.42-0.685550.01030.37-0.68-0.59
0.36-0.645600.01000.36-0.65-0.64
0.34-0.63562.50.00980.35-0.63-0.66
0.32-0.605650.00960.34-0.61-0.69
0.29-0.58567.50.00930.33-0.58-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot350507.5535562.5595627.511K0
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

spot160370470540610725119K119K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 774K call contracts, 1.1M 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: SMH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk