Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 3:34 AM ET

VAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$88.35
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$85-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.1±12.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.09299 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$97.5largest put OI
IV3047.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$783Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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$85-3.8%30d
Fri, Dec 18$70-20.8%58d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5-51.9%86d
Fri, Feb 19$65-26.4%121d
Fri, May 21$95+7.5%212d
Fri, Dec 17$55-37.7%422d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85436588110133155$23M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8542.5607587.51001252K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VAL 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

spot8542.5607587.51001251010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot436588110133155142%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8542.5607587.5100125+$468K−$468K
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
0.92-0.03700.00950.04-0.04-0.08
0.90-0.0472.50.01200.05-0.04-0.10
0.86-0.05750.01520.06-0.05-0.13
0.82-0.0577.50.01900.07-0.06-0.17
0.77-0.06800.02300.08-0.06-0.23
0.71-0.0782.50.02700.09-0.07-0.29
0.64-0.07850.03010.10-0.07-0.36
0.56-0.0887.50.03190.10-0.08-0.44
0.48-0.08900.03190.10-0.08-0.52
0.40-0.0892.50.03050.10-0.08-0.59
0.34-0.08950.02820.09-0.07-0.66
0.28-0.0797.50.02540.09-0.07-0.72
0.24-0.071000.02250.08-0.07-0.76
0.17-0.061050.01730.07-0.06-0.83
0.12-0.051100.01310.05-0.05-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15355575951307K0
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

spot15355575951307K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 28K call contracts, 10K 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: VAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk