Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 11:09 PM ET

SRET max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.89
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$19-4.5% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.021 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$19largest put OI
IV3051.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $21

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$19-4.5%26d
Fri, Dec 18$20+0.6%54d
Fri, Mar 19$23+15.6%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19192021212223$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot19192122232727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SRET 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

spot191921222311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot19202121222398%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2119212223+$908−$908
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
0.65-0.02190.12200.02-0.02-0.36
0.40-0.02210.12520.02-0.02-0.62
0.31-0.02220.10360.02-0.02-0.70
0.26-0.02230.08500.02-0.02-0.76

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

spot20212223290
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

spot1115192327312929
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46 call contracts, 17 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: SRET workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk