Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 1:38 AM ET

UPS max pain

Spot (delayed)$105.68
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105-0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.65±12.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.264K puts / 14K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3023.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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$103-2.5%2d
Fri, Sep 4$102-3.5%9d
Fri, Sep 11$105-0.6%16d
Fri, Sep 18$105-0.6%23d
Fri, Sep 25$103-2.5%30d
Fri, Oct 2$102-3.5%37d
Fri, Oct 16$105-0.6%51d
Fri, Nov 20$105-0.6%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105557799121143165$64M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10555801001201401607K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UPS 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

spot1055580100120140160330330
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot55779912114316583%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 655580100120140160+$1.6M$1.6M
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
0.99700.00090.01-0.00-0.01
0.99750.00190.02-0.01-0.02
0.97800.00390.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.00850.00720.06-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01900.01200.10-0.02-0.14
0.81-0.02950.01780.14-0.03-0.23
0.70-0.031000.02320.17-0.03-0.34
0.57-0.031050.02660.20-0.03-0.47
0.44-0.031100.02700.20-0.03-0.60
0.32-0.031150.02450.18-0.03-0.71
0.22-0.031200.02020.15-0.02-0.81
0.14-0.021250.01530.12-0.01-0.87
0.09-0.011300.01100.08-0.00-0.92
0.06-0.011350.00760.06-0.95
0.04-0.011400.00520.04-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70931011091171255K0
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

spot459110211312415526K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 198K call contracts, 165K 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: UPS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk