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

SMMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.61
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$15.5+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.03±27.6% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.2338 puts / 162 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV30117.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

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

spot15.55811141720$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 — 15.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot15.551415.517206262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot15.551415.51720101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot5811141720158%98%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 117.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 1351415.51720+$780−$780
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0150.00650.00-0.01-0.03
0.87-0.02100.03460.01-0.02-0.14
0.70-0.03130.06640.01-0.03-0.30
0.63-0.03140.07420.02-0.03-0.38
0.59-0.0314.50.07670.02-0.03-0.42
0.55-0.03150.07800.02-0.03-0.46
0.51-0.0315.50.07840.02-0.03-0.49
0.47-0.03160.07780.02-0.03-0.53
0.44-0.0316.50.07640.02-0.03-0.56
0.41-0.03170.07460.02-0.03-0.59
0.38-0.0317.50.07230.02-0.03-0.62
0.34-0.0318.50.06710.02-0.03-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 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