Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 13, 4:26 AM ET

ULTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$567.47
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$505-11.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$46.4±8.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.913K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$575largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3030.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $550

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$550-3.1%3d
Fri, Oct 23$540-4.8%10d
Fri, Oct 30$565-0.4%17d
Fri, Nov 6$550-3.1%24d
Fri, Nov 13$565-0.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$505-11.0%38d
Fri, Nov 27$550-3.1%45d
Fri, Dec 18$545-4.0%66d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5052704245787328861040$139M$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 — 505 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5052704354855355856401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ULTA 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

spot50527043548553558564088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3004485967448921040113%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 550400455500550595660+$868K−$868K
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
0.78-0.225300.00510.56-0.23-0.23
0.75-0.235350.00550.59-0.24-0.25
0.72-0.245400.00580.63-0.25-0.28
0.69-0.265450.00610.66-0.26-0.31
0.66-0.275500.00640.68-0.27-0.34
0.63-0.275550.00670.70-0.28-0.38
0.59-0.285600.00690.72-0.28-0.41
0.56-0.285650.00700.73-0.29-0.45
0.52-0.285700.00710.74-0.29-0.48
0.49-0.285750.00710.74-0.29-0.52
0.45-0.285800.00710.73-0.29-0.56
0.42-0.285850.00700.72-0.28-0.59
0.38-0.275900.00690.71-0.28-0.63
0.35-0.265950.00670.69-0.27-0.66
0.32-0.256000.00640.66-0.26-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot420490530562.56006902300
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

spot2303904755406107402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 18K 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: ULTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk