Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 7:06 AM ET

AMX max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.74
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 7:06 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, May 21Not showntoo thin to read
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 7:06 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 4.55 USD, 18.4% of 24.74 spot.
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±18.4% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.51
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 7:06 AM ET
How20 put contracts / 39 call contracts = 0.51 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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20 puts / 39 calls
IV3022.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 7:06 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol

Too thin to read: 59 open contracts across 11 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$22-11.1%17d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides45d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides108d
Fri, May 21too thin199d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Too thin to read: 59 open contracts across 11 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot1416192224282424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMX open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot14172022252869%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.00150.02040.02-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00160.02250.03-0.00-0.07
0.91-0.00170.02370.03-0.00-0.09
0.86-0.00190.03180.04-0.00-0.13
0.83-0.00200.03980.04-0.00-0.16
0.74-0.00220.05980.06-0.00-0.26
0.68-0.00230.07000.06-0.00-0.32
0.60-0.00240.07800.07-0.01-0.40
0.36-0.00270.07860.07-0.00-0.65
0.30-0.00280.07220.06-0.00-0.72

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1520242730341K0
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

spot1418222630341K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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.

Max pain, walls and gamma print only when an expiration holds at least 100 open contracts across 5 strikes, and max pain also needs to stay within 5% of spot when its single heaviest strike is removed. Below that the expiration reads as thin rather than printing a level one trade could move.

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: AMX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk