Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:35 PM ET

SPSC max pain

Spot (delayed)$91.56
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$80-12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.5±12.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI5.61157 puts / 28 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3045.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$10Kper 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$80-12.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$70-23.5%53d
Fri, Jan 15$65-29.0%81d
Fri, Apr 16$90-1.7%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot80657789101113125$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot80658090105102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPSC 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

spot8065809010511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot657789101113125103%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot658090105+$9K−$9K
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
0.93-0.06650.00560.03-0.06-0.07
0.87-0.07750.01110.05-0.07-0.13
0.82-0.08800.01600.07-0.08-0.18
0.74-0.08850.02290.08-0.08-0.26
0.61-0.09900.03070.10-0.09-0.39
0.45-0.08950.03360.10-0.08-0.55
0.21-0.071050.02190.07-0.07-0.79
0.07-0.041250.00750.03-0.04-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30456580951151K0
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

spot305070901101K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 448 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: SPSC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk