Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET

BOIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.18
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 4Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.41
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-04 expiration = 4.41 USD, 27.3% of 16.18 spot.
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±27.3% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI1.09
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
How1,213 put contracts / 1,110 call contracts = 1.09 for the 2026-12-04 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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1K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$20
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
How20.00 for the 2026-12-04 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$15
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
How15.00 for the 2026-12-04 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV30106.3%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 6:09 AM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-12-04 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 ≈ $13.5

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 15.5% 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, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 6$18+11.2%3d
Fri, Nov 13$16.5+2.0%10d
Fri, Nov 20one strike decides17d
Fri, Nov 27$18+11.2%24d
Fri, Dec 4one strike decides31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$17+5.1%45d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides73d
Fri, Mar 19$17+5.1%136d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 15.5% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot12.51517192226813813
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BOIL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot12.516192229803803
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot131620232730153%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 116.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spotflip 13.512.51517192226+$14K−$14K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.0212.50.04940.01-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.0213.50.06100.01-0.02-0.23
0.74-0.03140.06600.02-0.03-0.27
0.70-0.0314.50.07010.02-0.03-0.31
0.66-0.03150.07350.02-0.03-0.35
0.62-0.0315.50.07590.02-0.03-0.39
0.58-0.03160.07750.02-0.03-0.43
0.55-0.0316.50.07820.02-0.03-0.47
0.51-0.03170.07820.02-0.03-0.50
0.47-0.0317.50.07750.02-0.03-0.54
0.44-0.03180.07630.02-0.03-0.57
0.41-0.0318.50.07460.02-0.03-0.61
0.38-0.03190.07250.02-0.03-0.64
0.35-0.0319.50.07020.02-0.03-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1015.52024.52933.53K0
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

spot515202530357K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 24K 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: BOIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk