Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 27, 5:02 AM ET

Z max pain

Spot (delayed)$32.83
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$35+6.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.3±16.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.4112K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$37.5largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3067.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$224Kper 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$35+6.6%24d
Fri, Dec 18$35+6.6%52d
Fri, Jan 15$35+6.6%80d
Fri, Feb 19$32.5-1.0%115d
Fri, Mar 19$37.5+14.2%143d
Fri, May 21$30-8.6%206d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35182737465665$22M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3517.52532.54047.5554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Z 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

spot3517.52532.54047.555140140
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot182737465665144%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17.52532.54047.555+$192K−$192K
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
0.990.0017.50.00190.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00200.00480.00-0.01-0.01
0.96-0.0122.50.01100.01-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.02250.02210.01-0.02-0.08
0.84-0.0327.50.03830.02-0.03-0.16
0.71-0.04300.05540.03-0.04-0.29
0.55-0.0532.50.06550.03-0.05-0.45
0.39-0.05350.06390.03-0.05-0.61
0.26-0.0437.50.05360.03-0.04-0.74
0.17-0.03400.04060.02-0.03-0.83
0.11-0.0242.50.02920.02-0.02-0.90
0.07-0.02450.02040.01-0.02-0.94
0.05-0.0147.50.01420.01-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.01500.01000.01-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1532.55067.5851103K0
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

spot1532.55067.58510519K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 61K call contracts, 34K 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: Z workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk