Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:46 AM ET

UNIT max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.19
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$9+73.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.58±30.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.03904 puts / 30K calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3087.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$25Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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, Nov 20$9+73.4%28d
Fri, Dec 18$6+15.6%56d
Fri, Jan 15$9+73.4%84d
Fri, Feb 19$8+54.1%119d
Fri, May 21$8+54.1%210d
Fri, Dec 17$7+34.9%420d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9159121620$24M$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot915811141715K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UNIT 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

spot91581114172525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4710141720351%88%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 137.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 5158111417+$18K−$18K
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
0.99-0.0010.00750.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0020.02260.00-0.00-0.03
0.85-0.0140.14820.00-0.01-0.15
0.62-0.0150.29340.01-0.01-0.38
0.35-0.0160.27120.01-0.01-0.66
0.20-0.0170.18460.00-0.01-0.81
0.13-0.0180.12410.00-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.0190.08590.00-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00100.06140.00-0.00-0.96
0.04-0.00110.04500.00-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00120.03380.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot159131738K0
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

spot159131739K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 164K call contracts, 16K 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: UNIT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk