Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:35 AM ET

SMHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.49
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$44+20.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.9±10.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.6869 puts / 41 calls
Call wall$44largest call OI
Put wall$48largest put OI
IV3050.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

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$44+20.6%26d
Fri, Dec 18$48+31.6%54d
Fri, Jan 15$45+23.3%82d
Fri, Apr 16$45+23.3%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot44343740444750$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 — 44 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4434384144472424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMHC 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

spot44343841444711
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot34374044475082%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3438414447+$850−$850
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
0.71-0.03340.06260.03-0.03-0.29
0.65-0.04350.07100.04-0.04-0.35
0.57-0.04360.07640.04-0.04-0.43
0.42-0.04380.07440.04-0.04-0.58
0.36-0.04390.06880.04-0.04-0.64
0.31-0.04400.06210.04-0.04-0.69
0.27-0.03410.05540.03-0.04-0.74
0.23-0.03420.04930.03-0.03-0.77
0.20-0.03430.04390.03-0.03-0.80
0.18-0.03440.03910.03-0.03-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot304045557180240
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

spot2037475767776767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 143 call contracts, 235 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: SMHC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk