Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 8:18 PM ET

TER max pain

Spot (delayed)$308
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$370+20.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.8±15.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.0717K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3076.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

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$325+5.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$360+16.9%11d
Fri, Nov 13$385+25.0%18d
Fri, Nov 20$370+20.1%25d
Fri, Nov 27$360+16.9%32d
Fri, Dec 4$340+10.4%39d
Fri, Dec 18$340+10.4%53d
Fri, Jan 15$320+3.9%81d
Fri, Mar 19$360+16.9%144d
Fri, Apr 16$360+16.9%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot370100212324436548660$334M$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 — 370 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot370100240327.53754606005K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TER 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

spot370100240327.5375460600376376
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100212324436548660256%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 180160260330375450560+$1.9M−$1.9M
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
0.90-0.232400.00260.14-0.24-0.10
0.87-0.282500.00320.17-0.29-0.14
0.83-0.332600.00390.21-0.34-0.18
0.78-0.382700.00460.24-0.39-0.22
0.73-0.422800.00520.27-0.43-0.28
0.67-0.462900.00570.29-0.47-0.34
0.61-0.493000.00610.31-0.49-0.40
0.55-0.503100.00630.32-0.50-0.46
0.48-0.503200.00630.32-0.50-0.52
0.44-0.49327.50.00630.32-0.50-0.57
0.42-0.493300.00620.32-0.49-0.58
0.39-0.483350.00610.31-0.48-0.61
0.37-0.473400.00600.30-0.47-0.64
0.34-0.463450.00580.30-0.46-0.67
0.32-0.443500.00560.29-0.44-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2303103453854304909860
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

spot701452203103754906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 59K 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: TER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk