Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 1:11 AM ET

TEAM max pain

Spot (delayed)$227.83
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$205-10.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$42.2±18.5% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI1.68124 puts / 74 calls
Call wall$250largest call OI
Put wall$145largest put OI
IV3078.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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, Oct 30$202.5-11.1%5d
Fri, Nov 6$200-12.2%12d
Fri, Nov 13$200-12.2%19d
Fri, Nov 20$185-18.8%26d
Fri, Nov 27$205-10.0%33d
Fri, Dec 4$200-12.2%40d
Fri, Dec 18$115-49.5%54d
Fri, Jan 15$135-40.7%82d
Fri, Mar 19$120-47.3%145d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot205120150180210240270$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 — 205 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot2051201601852102352604040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEAM open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot20512016018521023526022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot13516218921624327097%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 135120160185210235260+$6K−$6K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.231950.00540.21-0.23-0.22
0.75-0.252000.00580.22-0.25-0.25
0.71-0.272050.00620.24-0.27-0.28
0.68-0.282100.00660.25-0.28-0.32
0.65-0.292150.00690.26-0.29-0.35
0.61-0.302200.00710.27-0.30-0.39
0.57-0.302250.00730.28-0.30-0.43
0.54-0.302300.00740.28-0.31-0.47
0.50-0.302350.00750.28-0.31-0.50
0.46-0.302400.00750.28-0.30-0.54
0.43-0.302450.00740.28-0.30-0.57
0.39-0.292500.00730.27-0.29-0.61
0.36-0.282550.00710.26-0.28-0.64
0.33-0.272600.00690.25-0.27-0.67
0.27-0.252700.00630.23-0.25-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100157.5180205227.52508350
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

spot307512016520529011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 84K call contracts, 61K 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: TEAM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk