Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET

AON max pain

Spot (delayed)$343.24
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$300
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 32 strikes carrying 4,312 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
-12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.7
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 32.70 USD, 9.5% of 343.24 spot.
Open the source document →
±9.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.45
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
How1,336 put contracts / 2,976 call contracts = 0.45 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
1K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$350
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
How350.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest call OI
Put wall$250
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
How250.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3027.1%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.1M
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:12 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-01-15 expiration: (call gamma × call OI minus put gamma × put OI) × 100 × spot² × 1%, summed. Calls count as positive and puts as negative, a convention about who holds the other side, not a measurement.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $320

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 20one strike decides16d
Fri, Dec 18$300-12.6%44d
Fri, Jan 15$300-12.6%72d
Fri, Apr 16$310-9.7%163d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300185246307368429490$40M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot300185240300360420480738738
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AON open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot3002703003403704201010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot18524630736842949075%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 320210260310360410460+$868K−$868K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.012700.00140.11-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.022800.00220.16-0.03-0.05
0.92-0.042900.00320.22-0.04-0.08
0.88-0.053000.00450.30-0.06-0.12
0.83-0.073100.00600.39-0.07-0.17
0.76-0.093200.00740.47-0.09-0.24
0.68-0.103300.00880.55-0.10-0.33
0.58-0.113400.00970.59-0.11-0.42
0.49-0.113500.01000.61-0.11-0.53
0.39-0.103600.00970.59-0.11-0.63
0.30-0.093700.00890.53-0.10-0.72
0.23-0.083800.00770.46-0.09-0.81
0.16-0.073900.00630.38-0.07-0.88
0.12-0.054000.00490.30-0.06-0.94
0.08-0.044100.00370.23-0.04-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2002603103604104608050
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

spot1702102803504204901K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 4K 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: AON workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk