Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 12:26 AM ET

TSMG max pain

Spot (delayed)$35.95
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$41+14.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.48±15.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.23191 puts / 155 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$32largest put OI
IV3068.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move

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$41+14.0%25d
Fri, Dec 18$40+11.3%53d
Fri, Mar 19$40+11.3%144d
Thu, Jun 17$29-19.3%234d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41283441475460$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 — 41 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot412833374145603636
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TSMG 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

spot4128333741456055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot283441475460107%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 68.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot283337414560+$2K−$2K
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
0.91-0.02280.02160.02-0.02-0.09
0.85-0.03300.03200.02-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.03310.03780.03-0.03-0.19
0.77-0.04320.04340.03-0.04-0.23
0.72-0.04330.04850.03-0.04-0.28
0.67-0.04340.05280.04-0.04-0.34
0.61-0.05350.05600.04-0.05-0.39
0.56-0.05360.05780.04-0.05-0.45
0.50-0.05370.05830.04-0.05-0.51
0.44-0.05380.05750.04-0.05-0.56
0.39-0.05390.05560.04-0.05-0.62
0.34-0.05400.05290.04-0.05-0.67
0.30-0.04410.04960.04-0.04-0.71
0.26-0.04420.04590.03-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.04430.04200.03-0.04-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2032374247654520
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

spot203036424865452452
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 592 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: TSMG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk