Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 25, 3:32 AM ET

XEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.05
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$75-3.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.53±5.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI4.2524K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3024.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.8Mper 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$75-3.9%26d
Fri, Dec 18$75-3.9%54d
Fri, Jan 15$80+2.5%82d
Fri, Mar 19$75-3.9%145d
Thu, Jun 17$70-10.3%235d
Fri, Sep 17$70-10.3%327d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7540557085100115$66M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot75406072.582.510011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XEL 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

spot75406072.582.51008888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot50637689102115100%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot406072.582.5100+$861K−$861K
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
0.98-0.01550.00320.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01600.00610.02-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.02650.01230.03-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.0267.50.01780.03-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.03700.02600.04-0.03-0.13
0.81-0.0372.50.03800.06-0.03-0.19
0.72-0.04750.05410.07-0.04-0.29
0.57-0.0477.50.06980.09-0.04-0.44
0.39-0.04800.07190.08-0.04-0.62
0.23-0.0382.50.05680.07-0.03-0.78
0.14-0.02850.03860.05-0.02-0.88
0.06-0.01900.01670.03-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.01950.00790.01-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.011000.00420.01-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.001050.00240.010.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot506577.5851001156K0
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

spot3547.567.58010068K68K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 189K 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: XEL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk