Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 9:29 PM ET

T max pain

Spot (delayed)$25.14
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$25-0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.22±8.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4113K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$28largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3028.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$857Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $27
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 21usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Sep 25$25.5+1.4%3d
Fri, Oct 2$25.5+1.4%10d
Fri, Oct 9$29+15.4%17d
Fri, Oct 16$24-4.5%24d
Fri, Oct 23$25.5+1.4%31d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Oct 21)
Fri, Oct 30$27+7.4%38d
Fri, Nov 20$25-0.6%59d
Fri, Dec 18$24-4.5%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25121721263035$23M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot251216212529338K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)T 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

spot251216212529331K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot121721263035108%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 27121621252933+$455K$455K
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
0.99-0.00180.00940.00-0.00-0.03
0.98-0.00190.01520.00-0.00-0.04
0.97-0.00200.02580.01-0.00-0.06
0.94-0.00210.04550.01-0.00-0.09
0.89-0.01220.07650.02-0.01-0.14
0.80-0.01230.11040.03-0.01-0.22
0.67-0.01240.13540.04-0.01-0.34
0.53-0.01250.14740.04-0.01-0.48
0.39-0.01260.14240.04-0.01-0.63
0.26-0.01270.12120.03-0.01-0.76
0.16-0.01280.09210.03-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.00290.06440.02-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00300.04370.01-0.00-0.96
0.04-0.00310.03040.01-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00320.02250.010.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1418.521.524.527.53115K0
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

spot121821.52528.532100K100K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 611K call contracts, 380K 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: T workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk