Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 6:22 AM ET

WWD max pain

Spot (delayed)$304
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$320+5.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.2±11.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI25.523K puts / 114 calls
Call wall$320largest call OI
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3052.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

Event risk before this expiration: 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$320+5.3%23d
Fri, Dec 18$350+15.1%51d
Fri, Jan 15$300-1.3%79d
Fri, Apr 16$300-1.3%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot320210252294336378420$28M$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 — 320 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3202102603003403804202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WWD 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

spot3202102603003403804204141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot21025229433637842083%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 240210260300340380420+$1.4M−$1.4M
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
0.96-0.092200.00140.07-0.10-0.04
0.92-0.152400.00270.11-0.15-0.08
0.89-0.182500.00360.14-0.19-0.11
0.85-0.222600.00470.18-0.23-0.15
0.80-0.272700.00590.22-0.27-0.20
0.73-0.312800.00720.26-0.31-0.27
0.66-0.342900.00830.29-0.34-0.34
0.57-0.353000.00910.31-0.35-0.43
0.47-0.363100.00930.31-0.35-0.53
0.39-0.343200.00890.30-0.34-0.61
0.31-0.323300.00810.27-0.31-0.69
0.24-0.283400.00710.24-0.28-0.76
0.19-0.253500.00610.21-0.24-0.81
0.15-0.213600.00500.18-0.21-0.85
0.11-0.183700.00410.15-0.17-0.89

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

spot1752303204004806001K0
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

spot1652102903704505402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: WWD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk