Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 29, 11:14 PM ET

UUP max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.04
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$28-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.53±1.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.22497 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$29largest call OI
Put wall$29largest put OI
IV307.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$787Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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$28-3.6%21d
Fri, Dec 18$28-3.6%49d
Fri, Jan 15$28-3.6%77d
Fri, Mar 19$35+20.5%140d
Thu, Jun 17$39+34.3%230d
Fri, Jan 21$28-3.6%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot28272829313233$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 — 28 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot28272931331K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UUP 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

spot2827293133150150
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot28293030313222%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 6.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot27293133+$669K−$669K
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
0.970.00270.05220.01-0.00-0.02
0.92-0.00280.19120.01-0.00-0.08
0.54-0.00290.78980.03-0.01-0.47
0.11-0.00300.24760.01-0.00-0.92
0.04-0.00310.07640.01-0.01-0.99
0.02-0.00320.03200.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00330.01600.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot152529333716K0
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

spot152126313617K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 40K call contracts, 32K 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: UUP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk