Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 4:12 PM ET

U max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.13
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$38-7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.45±15.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4826K puts / 55K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3071.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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 30$41-0.3%3d
Fri, Nov 6$44+7.0%10d
Fri, Nov 13$44+7.0%17d
Fri, Nov 20$38-7.6%24d
Fri, Nov 27$40-2.7%31d
Fri, Dec 4$40-2.7%38d
Fri, Dec 18$41-0.3%52d
Fri, Jan 15$30-27.1%80d
Fri, Feb 19$39-5.2%115d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38102234465870$135M$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 — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3810213139.544.55114K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)U 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

spot3810213139.544.551125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot102234465870211%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 76.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1514233239.54449+$368K−$368K
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
0.74-0.06370.03910.04-0.06-0.26
0.69-0.06380.04240.04-0.06-0.31
0.67-0.0638.50.04380.04-0.06-0.33
0.65-0.06390.04510.04-0.06-0.35
0.62-0.0639.50.04620.04-0.07-0.38
0.60-0.07400.04710.04-0.07-0.40
0.57-0.0740.50.04790.04-0.07-0.43
0.55-0.07410.04840.04-0.07-0.45
0.53-0.0741.50.04880.04-0.07-0.47
0.50-0.07420.04900.04-0.07-0.50
0.48-0.0742.50.04900.04-0.07-0.52
0.46-0.07430.04880.04-0.07-0.55
0.43-0.0743.50.04840.04-0.07-0.57
0.41-0.07440.04790.04-0.07-0.59
0.39-0.0644.50.04720.04-0.06-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2533.53842465133K0
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

spot3213137.5445144K44K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 383K call contracts, 257K 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: U workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk