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

ULTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$567.47
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$550-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$48.05±8.5% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.715 puts / 7 calls
Call wall$550largest call OI
Put wall$570largest put OI
IV3030.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $570

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

spot550490508526544562580$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 — 550 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot55049054055056057058055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ULTA open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot55049054055056057058011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot49050852654456258035%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 570490540550560570580+$11K−$11K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.144900.00260.39-0.15-0.11
0.70-0.235400.00540.70-0.24-0.30
0.65-0.245500.00590.75-0.25-0.35
0.58-0.255600.00640.78-0.26-0.42
0.52-0.265700.00660.80-0.26-0.48
0.45-0.255800.00670.80-0.26-0.55

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

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