Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 9:04 PM ET

WTW max pain

Spot (delayed)$310.36
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$280-9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.05±7.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.3360 puts / 45 calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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 16$290-6.6%1d
Fri, Nov 20$280-9.8%36d
Fri, Jan 15$280-9.8%92d
Fri, Apr 16$280-9.8%183d
Fri, May 21$200-35.6%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280230246262278294310$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2802302502702903102222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WTW 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

spot28023025027029031011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot23024626227829431055%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 240230250270290310+$20K−$20K
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
0.95-0.042400.00190.09-0.06-0.04
0.94-0.062500.00260.12-0.07-0.06
0.92-0.072600.00360.15-0.09-0.08
0.88-0.092700.00500.19-0.10-0.12
0.83-0.112800.00690.24-0.12-0.17
0.76-0.132900.00930.30-0.14-0.24
0.66-0.153000.01180.36-0.16-0.34
0.54-0.163100.01340.39-0.16-0.47

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 9 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1452503003504004504060
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

spot140180240320400480407407
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: WTW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk