Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 6:50 AM ET

UNH max pain

Spot (delayed)$400.75
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$380-5.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$51.33±12.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.3520K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$470largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3028.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$674Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · 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, Aug 28$400-0.2%1d
Fri, Sep 4$397.5-0.8%8d
Fri, Sep 11$400-0.2%15d
Fri, Sep 18$370-7.7%22d
Fri, Sep 25$395-1.4%29d
Fri, Oct 2$400-0.2%36d
Fri, Oct 16$400-0.2%50d
Fri, Nov 20$380-5.2%85d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380130232334436538640$423M$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3801301752403304205207K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UNH 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

spot380130175240330420520163163
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot130232334436538640124%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot175230310390470600+$3.8M$3.8M
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
0.89-0.053300.00270.37-0.08-0.11
0.86-0.073400.00330.44-0.09-0.14
0.82-0.083500.00390.51-0.10-0.18
0.78-0.103600.00450.58-0.12-0.23
0.72-0.113700.00500.65-0.13-0.28
0.67-0.123800.00550.70-0.14-0.34
0.61-0.133900.00590.74-0.14-0.40
0.55-0.144000.00620.77-0.14-0.46
0.49-0.144100.00630.77-0.14-0.52
0.43-0.144200.00620.76-0.14-0.59
0.37-0.134300.00600.73-0.13-0.65
0.32-0.124400.00570.69-0.12-0.71
0.27-0.114500.00530.64-0.11-0.76
0.22-0.104600.00480.58-0.09-0.81
0.18-0.094700.00430.52-0.07-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot220310372.54004304804K0
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

spot12518528038546060049K49K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 483K call contracts, 410K 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: UNH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk