Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET

BITX max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.28
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$20
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 97 strikes carrying 90,505 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+22.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.42
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 4.42 USD, 27.2% of 16.28 spot.
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±27.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.31
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
How21,475 put contracts / 69,030 call contracts = 0.31 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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21K puts / 69K calls
Call wall$40
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
How40.00 for the 2027-01-15 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$20
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
How20.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3076.4%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$143K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:07 AM 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.
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per 1% move · flip ≈ $32

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 6$17+4.5%3d
Fri, Nov 13$17+4.5%10d
Fri, Nov 20$18+10.6%17d
Fri, Nov 27$17+4.5%24d
Fri, Dec 4$18.5+13.7%31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$15-7.8%45d
Fri, Jan 15$20+22.9%73d
Fri, Mar 19$16-1.7%136d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot203305885113140$604M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot203132334568018K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BITX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15. Showing the 60 largest of 97 strikes by open interest, 96.2% of the total.

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

spot20313182559100214214
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3305885113140231%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 73.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3231323345680+$69K−$69K
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
1.00-0.0090.01810.01-0.01-0.07
1.00-0.01100.02590.01-0.01-0.09
0.98-0.01110.03490.01-0.01-0.13
0.93-0.01120.04550.02-0.01-0.17
0.88-0.01130.05700.02-0.01-0.23
0.81-0.01140.06860.02-0.01-0.30
0.74-0.01150.07910.03-0.01-0.39
0.66-0.01160.08690.03-0.01-0.47
0.58-0.01170.09060.03-0.01-0.56
0.50-0.01180.09030.03-0.01-0.64
0.43-0.01190.08710.03-0.01-0.71
0.37-0.01200.08220.03-0.01-0.77
0.31-0.01210.07600.03-0.01-0.83
0.27-0.01220.06930.02-0.01-0.87
0.22-0.01230.06240.02-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51316.52023.5292K0
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

spot3131928509019K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 139K call contracts, 46K 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: BITX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk