Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 4:54 AM ET

W max pain

Spot (delayed)$113.56
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$105-7.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.88±17.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.8115K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3075.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$361Kper 1% move

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$107-5.8%2d
Fri, Oct 30$108-4.9%9d
Fri, Nov 6$110-3.1%16d
Fri, Nov 13$109-4.0%23d
Fri, Nov 20$105-7.5%30d
Fri, Nov 27$110-3.1%37d
Fri, Dec 18$92.5-18.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$85-25.1%86d
Fri, Feb 19$97.5-14.1%121d
Fri, Mar 19$100-11.9%149d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105336190118147175$85M$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

spot10532.55577.51001151452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)W 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

spot10532.55577.51001151455656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot336190118147175270%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot32.55577.5100115145+$412K−$412K
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
0.71-0.141030.01350.11-0.14-0.29
0.68-0.141050.01410.12-0.14-0.32
0.67-0.141060.01440.12-0.15-0.33
0.65-0.151070.01470.12-0.15-0.35
0.60-0.151100.01540.13-0.15-0.40
0.59-0.151110.01560.13-0.16-0.41
0.57-0.161120.01570.13-0.16-0.43
0.56-0.161130.01580.13-0.16-0.44
0.53-0.161150.01600.13-0.16-0.47
0.48-0.161180.01600.13-0.16-0.52
0.46-0.161190.01600.13-0.16-0.54
0.45-0.161200.01590.13-0.16-0.55
0.43-0.161210.01580.13-0.16-0.57
0.38-0.151250.01530.13-0.15-0.63
0.31-0.141300.01420.12-0.14-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6087971061151242K0
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

spot12.542.5709511315512K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 82K call contracts, 117K 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: W workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk