Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 11:37 PM ET

STRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.5
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$85+4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.8±10.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.85144 puts / 78 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3045.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$17Kper 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$85+4.3%25d
Fri, Dec 18$85+4.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$80-1.8%81d
Fri, Apr 16$80-1.8%172d
Fri, May 21$75-8.0%207d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot855565758595105$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot85557080901057070
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)STRA 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

spot855570809010511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5565758595105116%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot55708090105+$13K−$13K
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
0.98-0.01550.00290.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.02600.00560.02-0.02-0.04
0.86-0.05700.01770.05-0.05-0.14
0.75-0.07750.02740.07-0.07-0.25
0.59-0.07800.03600.09-0.07-0.41
0.40-0.07850.03770.09-0.07-0.60
0.23-0.05900.03060.07-0.05-0.77
0.12-0.04950.02010.05-0.04-0.88
0.03-0.011050.00620.01-0.01-0.98

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

spot65758595105330
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

spot40557085100115112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 173 call contracts, 335 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: STRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk