Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 3, 11:34 PM ET

SWKS max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.03
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$70-17.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.45±18.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.764K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3055.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$416Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$85-0.0%12d
Fri, Nov 20$70-17.7%47d
Fri, Dec 18$70-17.7%75d
Fri, Jan 15$72.5-14.7%103d
Fri, Feb 19$80-5.9%138d
Fri, Mar 19$65-23.6%166d
Fri, May 21$80-5.9%229d
Thu, Jun 17$77.5-8.9%256d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7028486989110130$22M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7027.542.557.572.587.51051K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SWKS 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

spot7027.542.557.572.587.51054141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot28486989110130189%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8027.542.557.572.587.5105+$131K−$131K
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
0.87-0.0467.50.01070.07-0.04-0.13
0.84-0.05700.01270.08-0.05-0.16
0.80-0.0572.50.01480.09-0.05-0.20
0.76-0.06750.01680.10-0.06-0.24
0.71-0.0677.50.01870.11-0.06-0.29
0.66-0.07800.02030.11-0.07-0.34
0.60-0.0782.50.02150.12-0.07-0.40
0.55-0.07850.02220.12-0.07-0.45
0.49-0.0787.50.02230.12-0.07-0.51
0.44-0.07900.02200.12-0.07-0.56
0.39-0.0792.50.02130.12-0.07-0.61
0.35-0.07950.02030.12-0.07-0.66
0.30-0.0797.50.01910.11-0.07-0.70
0.27-0.061000.01770.10-0.06-0.73
0.21-0.061050.01500.09-0.06-0.80

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

spot32.547.562.577.592.51153K0
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

spot27.54562.58097.51305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 38K 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: SWKS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk