Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 18, 1:39 AM ET

TTWO max pain

Spot (delayed)$205.16
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$220+7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.25±14.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.3821K puts / 54K calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$165largest put OI
IV3052.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.8Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $280

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 23$205-0.1%5d
Fri, Oct 30$205-0.1%12d
Fri, Nov 6$210+2.4%19d
Fri, Nov 13$210+2.4%26d
Fri, Nov 20$220+7.2%33d
Fri, Nov 27$200-2.5%40d
Fri, Dec 18$210+2.4%61d
Fri, Jan 15$220+7.2%89d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot220110164218272326380$558M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot22011014518023030037013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TTWO 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

spot220110145180230300370243243
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11016421827232638098%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 280110145175210270330+$1.6M−$1.6M
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
0.91-0.071700.00520.11-0.07-0.09
0.87-0.101750.00660.14-0.10-0.13
0.82-0.121800.00780.17-0.12-0.18
0.77-0.141850.00900.19-0.15-0.23
0.72-0.161900.00990.21-0.17-0.28
0.67-0.181950.01060.23-0.18-0.34
0.61-0.192000.01110.24-0.19-0.40
0.49-0.202100.01140.25-0.20-0.51
0.39-0.202200.01070.24-0.20-0.62
0.30-0.182300.00960.22-0.19-0.71
0.23-0.162400.00810.19-0.17-0.78
0.18-0.142500.00680.17-0.14-0.84
0.13-0.122600.00550.14-0.13-0.88
0.10-0.102700.00440.11-0.11-0.91
0.08-0.092800.00360.09-0.09-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot135190207.52252502852K0
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

spot7513518021024030028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 174K call contracts, 107K 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: TTWO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk