Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 21, 8:19 PM ET

WHR max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.53
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$32.5+22.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.58±17.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9623K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3071.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$491Kper 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, Nov 20$32.5+22.5%30d
Fri, Dec 18$32.5+22.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$42.5+60.2%86d
Fri, Mar 19$35+31.9%149d
Thu, Jun 17$40+50.8%239d
Fri, Sep 17$40+50.8%331d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot32.518426791116140$238M$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 — 32.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot32.517.53552.57087.511010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WHR 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

spot32.517.53552.57087.5110497497
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot18426791116140261%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot203550658095+$378K−$378K
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
0.97-0.0117.50.01030.01-0.01-0.03
0.92-0.01200.02500.01-0.01-0.08
0.82-0.0222.50.04680.02-0.03-0.18
0.66-0.03250.06630.03-0.03-0.34
0.48-0.0427.50.07250.03-0.04-0.52
0.33-0.03300.06480.03-0.03-0.68
0.21-0.0332.50.05050.02-0.03-0.80
0.13-0.02350.03630.02-0.02-0.88
0.08-0.0137.50.02510.01-0.01-0.93
0.05-0.01400.01710.01-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.0142.50.01170.01-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.01450.00800.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.54062.58511516024K0
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

spot1540659013018028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 133K call contracts, 81K 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: WHR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk