Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:39 AM ET

XNCR max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.34
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5-46.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.8±33.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.87138 puts / 158 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3064.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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, Aug 21$17.5-25.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-35.7%33d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5-46.4%96d
Fri, Feb 19$15-35.7%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.581217212630$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12.57.512.517.522.5309090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XNCR 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

spot12.57.512.517.522.53022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot81217212630191%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 12.57.512.517.522.530+$646$646
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
0.97-0.017.50.00420.01-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01100.00730.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.0112.50.01180.02-0.01-0.08
0.86-0.01150.01800.03-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.0117.50.02560.03-0.01-0.20
0.71-0.02200.03340.04-0.02-0.28
0.61-0.0222.50.03920.05-0.02-0.38
0.51-0.02250.04140.05-0.02-0.48
0.35-0.02300.03740.04-0.02-0.65

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot101520254590
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530499499
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 359 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: XNCR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk