Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 3:30 AM ET

ZVRA max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.83
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$10+1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.67±17.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.20736 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3065.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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$10+1.7%25d
Fri, Dec 18$5-49.1%53d
Fri, Jan 15$9-8.4%81d
Fri, Feb 19$11+11.9%116d
Fri, May 21$9-8.4%207d
Fri, Dec 17$12+22.1%417d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot102711162025$5M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot102791113152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZVRA 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

spot1027911131566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2711162025399%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 107.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8279111315+$21K−$21K
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
1.00-0.0020.00180.00-0.00-0.00
0.97-0.0050.01630.00-0.00-0.03
0.91-0.0170.05790.00-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.0180.10610.01-0.01-0.16
0.71-0.0190.17800.01-0.01-0.29
0.50-0.01100.22980.01-0.01-0.51
0.29-0.01110.19880.01-0.01-0.71
0.17-0.01120.13600.01-0.01-0.84
0.10-0.01130.08870.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01140.05910.00-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.00150.04080.00-0.00-0.97
0.00-0.00250.00380.00—-1.00

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

spot1591317276K0
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

spot161116212621K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 42K 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: ZVRA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk