Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 24, 2:16 AM ET

TRI max pain

Spot (delayed)$123.17
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105-14.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.7±11.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.531K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3049.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$311Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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$105-14.8%27d
Fri, Dec 18$120-2.6%55d
Fri, Jan 15$80-35.0%83d
Fri, Feb 19$110-10.7%118d
Fri, Apr 16$105-14.8%174d
Fri, Sep 17$115-6.6%328d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105607998117136155$10M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1056075901051201351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TRI 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

spot10560759010512013533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot607998117136155137%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 105607590105120135+$141K−$141K
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
0.96-0.04900.00400.03-0.04-0.05
0.94-0.05950.00580.04-0.05-0.07
0.91-0.061000.00830.06-0.07-0.10
0.86-0.081050.01160.07-0.08-0.15
0.80-0.101100.01560.09-0.10-0.22
0.71-0.111150.01980.12-0.11-0.31
0.60-0.121200.02300.13-0.12-0.41
0.48-0.121250.02410.13-0.12-0.53
0.36-0.111300.02280.13-0.11-0.64
0.27-0.101350.01980.11-0.10-0.74
0.19-0.081400.01610.09-0.08-0.81
0.06-0.041550.00700.04-0.04-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5075951151351551K0
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

spot4065901151401652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 5K 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: TRI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk