Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET

AWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$90.38
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.48
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 4.48 USD, 5.0% of 90.38 spot.
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±5.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.04
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
How741 put contracts / 713 call contracts = 1.04 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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741 puts / 713 calls
Call wall$85
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
How85.00 for the 2026-12-18 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$70
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
How70.00 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3020.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:09 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-12-18 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 · flip ≈ $85

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.5% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

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 20$85-6.0%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Mar 19$85-6.0%129d
Thu, Jun 17$85-6.0%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 5.5% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot60708090100110342342
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6070809010011067%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 8560708090100110+$119K−$119K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00not quoted600.00090.00-0.01-0.02
0.99-0.00650.00190.00-0.01-0.02
0.99-0.01700.00420.01-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.01750.01010.02-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.02800.02440.04-0.02-0.10
0.79-0.03850.05120.08-0.03-0.22
0.50-0.03900.07020.12-0.03-0.51
0.21-0.02950.04810.09-0.02-0.80
0.09-0.011000.02290.05-0.01-0.93
0.04-0.011050.01110.03-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.011100.00570.01-0.00-0.99

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

spot6580901001103660
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

spot406080100120392392
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K 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: AWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk