Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 2:33 PM ET

TREX max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.1
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$47.5-3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.28±10.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.76296 puts / 389 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3051.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47.5

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$47.5-3.3%24d
Fri, Dec 18$45-8.4%52d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-13.4%80d
Fri, Apr 16$40-18.5%171d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47.5253239465360$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 — 47.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot47.5253540455055220220
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TREX 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

spot47.525354045505522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot253239465360180%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 47.5253540455055+$30K−$30K
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
0.97-0.01300.00470.01-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.02350.00970.01-0.03-0.05
0.93-0.0337.50.01420.02-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.03400.02080.02-0.04-0.11
0.84-0.0442.50.03020.03-0.04-0.17
0.75-0.05450.04250.04-0.05-0.25
0.64-0.0547.50.05480.05-0.05-0.37
0.49-0.05500.06080.05-0.06-0.52
0.35-0.0552.50.05660.05-0.05-0.66
0.23-0.04550.04600.04-0.04-0.78
0.11-0.03600.02530.02-0.03-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot20304050601K0
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

spot20304050601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 2K 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: TREX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk