Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET

APO max pain

Spot (delayed)$122.74
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$125
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-03-19 expiration, over 31 strikes carrying 16,438 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.8
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 21.80 USD, 17.8% of 122.74 spot.
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±17.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.58
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
How10,072 put contracts / 6,366 call contracts = 1.58 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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10K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$125
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
How125.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest call OI
Put wall$85
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
How85.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3036.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$480K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:10 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-03-19 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.
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per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 13$118-3.9%2d
Fri, Nov 20$120-2.2%9d
Fri, Nov 27$116-5.5%16d
Fri, Dec 4$119-3.0%23d
Fri, Dec 11$115-6.3%30d
Fri, Dec 18$120-2.2%37d
Fri, Jan 15$130+5.9%65d
Fri, Feb 19$120-2.2%100d
Fri, Mar 19$125+1.8%128d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1255080110140170200$57M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot12550801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APO open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot125501001151559090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot508011014017020077%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5080110140170200+$237K−$237K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.02900.00510.12-0.02-0.10
0.88-0.02950.00660.15-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.031000.00820.18-0.03-0.17
0.79-0.031050.00980.21-0.03-0.22
0.73-0.041100.01150.24-0.04-0.27
0.67-0.041150.01290.26-0.04-0.34
0.60-0.041200.01400.28-0.04-0.41
0.53-0.041250.01470.29-0.04-0.48
0.45-0.041300.01490.29-0.04-0.56
0.39-0.041350.01450.28-0.04-0.63
0.32-0.041400.01370.26-0.04-0.70
0.26-0.031450.01260.24-0.03-0.76
0.21-0.031500.01120.21-0.03-0.82
0.17-0.021550.00980.18-0.03-0.87
0.13-0.021600.00830.16-0.02-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751071151231311552K0
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

spot509410812213619033K33K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 177K call contracts, 184K 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: APO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk