Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:32 PM ET

TROW max pain

Spot (delayed)$103.69
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$100-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.63±6.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.31731 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3029.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$651Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

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$100-3.6%25d
Fri, Dec 18$105+1.3%53d
Fri, Jan 15$105+1.3%81d
Fri, Mar 19$105+1.3%144d
Fri, Apr 16$105+1.3%172d
Fri, Sep 17$100-3.6%326d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100607998117136155$11M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100608595105115125661661
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TROW 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

spot1006085951051151254K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8095110125140155104%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 100608595105115125+$221K−$221K
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
1.00—600.00020.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.01800.00310.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01850.00640.02-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.03900.01310.04-0.03-0.07
0.84-0.04950.02480.07-0.04-0.16
0.69-0.061000.04040.10-0.06-0.31
0.46-0.061050.04890.11-0.07-0.54
0.24-0.051100.03940.09-0.05-0.77
0.10-0.031150.02210.05-0.03-0.92
0.04-0.011200.01020.02-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.011250.00440.01-0.01-1.00
0.000.00155—0.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot60851051251451652K0
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

spot4065901151401654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 13K 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: TROW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk