Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 3:32 AM ET

SPHR max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.14
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$110+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.75±13.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.302K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3064.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$239Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Event risk before this expiration: 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$110+0.8%18d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides46d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-61.1%74d
Fri, Feb 19$110+0.8%109d
Fri, May 21one strike decides200d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides445d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1105596137178219260$67M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11055851151451752102K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPHR 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

spot11080901001151251351515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5596137178219260199%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1005585115145175210+$155K−$155K
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
0.97-0.03750.00280.02-0.03-0.03
0.96-0.05800.00450.03-0.05-0.04
0.92-0.07850.00700.04-0.07-0.08
0.88-0.10900.01030.05-0.10-0.13
0.81-0.13950.01400.07-0.13-0.19
0.73-0.151000.01770.09-0.15-0.28
0.63-0.171050.02080.10-0.17-0.38
0.52-0.171100.02220.10-0.17-0.49
0.41-0.171150.02180.10-0.17-0.59
0.31-0.151200.01990.09-0.15-0.69
0.23-0.131250.01710.08-0.13-0.78
0.16-0.101300.01380.06-0.10-0.85
0.11-0.071350.01060.05-0.08-0.90
0.07-0.061400.00800.04-0.06-0.94
0.06-0.051450.00610.03-0.05-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.540651001451902K0
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

spot12.54067.5951452005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 4K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: SPHR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk