Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:01 PM ET

SMMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.61
Max pain · Fri, Nov 13$15+2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.75±18.8% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.73260 puts / 150 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$13largest put OI
IV30117.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 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, Oct 30$16+9.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$17+16.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$15+2.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$16+9.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15.5+6.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$14-4.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$15+2.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+2.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$15+2.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$13-11.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15101214171921$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot15101214.516.51820.5100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot15101214.516.51820.56262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot101214171921271%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot101214.516.518.521+$2K−$2K
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.02100.03500.01-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.03110.05050.01-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.0311.50.06000.01-0.03-0.16
0.80-0.03120.07040.01-0.03-0.19
0.72-0.03130.09190.01-0.03-0.28
0.61-0.04140.10790.01-0.04-0.39
0.56-0.0414.50.11160.01-0.04-0.44
0.50-0.04150.11200.01-0.04-0.50
0.41-0.04160.10540.01-0.04-0.59
0.36-0.0416.50.09990.01-0.04-0.64
0.33-0.04170.09380.01-0.04-0.67
0.29-0.0417.50.08760.01-0.04-0.70
0.27-0.04180.08150.01-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.0418.50.07570.01-0.04-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51416.51922262K0
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

spot110.51621.5273430K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 89K 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: SMMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk