Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 19, 5:40 PM ET

UUUU max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.31
Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$9+8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.71±20.6% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI1.19682 puts / 573 calls
Call wall$9largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3078.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6.5

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, Oct 23$10+20.3%4d
Fri, Oct 30$10.5+26.4%11d
Fri, Nov 6$9.5+14.3%18d
Fri, Nov 13$10+20.3%25d
Fri, Nov 20$12+44.4%32d
Fri, Nov 27$9+8.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$9+8.3%60d
Fri, Jan 15$10+20.3%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9358101315$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot9379111315239239
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)UUUU open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot93791113157575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot358101315217%66%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 6.5379111315+$3K−$3K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0030.00660.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0040.01580.00-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.0050.03560.00-0.00-0.05
0.84-0.016.50.10040.01-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.0170.13020.01-0.01-0.22
0.70-0.017.50.15840.01-0.01-0.30
0.61-0.0180.17920.01-0.01-0.39
0.52-0.018.50.18870.01-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.0190.18630.01-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.019.50.17470.01-0.01-0.65
0.28-0.01100.15770.01-0.01-0.72
0.23-0.0110.50.13860.01-0.01-0.78
0.18-0.01110.11960.01-0.01-0.82
0.15-0.0111.50.10220.01-0.01-0.86
0.12-0.01120.08670.01-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

spot18.511.514.517.520.57K0
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

spot17.51216.5213062K62K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 373K call contracts, 128K 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: UUUU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk