Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 24, 5:05 PM ET

USGG max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.86
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$7+44.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.33±47.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.3583 puts / 239 calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV30141.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$233per 1% move · flip ≈ $7

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$7+44.0%26d
Fri, Feb 19$5+2.9%117d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot741016232935$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot748121721355454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)USGG 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

spot7481217213555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot41016232935291%146%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 152.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 748121824+$160−$160
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
0.73-0.0140.11080.01-0.01-0.27
0.59-0.0150.13750.01-0.01-0.41
0.47-0.0160.13680.01-0.01-0.52
0.39-0.0170.12530.01-0.01-0.60
0.33-0.0180.11270.01-0.01-0.66
0.29-0.0190.10150.01-0.01-0.71
0.26-0.01100.09190.01-0.01-0.74
0.23-0.01110.08380.01-0.01-0.77
0.21-0.01120.07700.01-0.01-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot159131824560
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

spot15101520255656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 277 call contracts, 141 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: USGG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk