Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET

CARR max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.01
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 32 strikes carrying 33,995 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+13.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.85
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 5.85 USD, 11.0% of 53.01 spot.
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±11.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.82
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
How15,344 put contracts / 18,651 call contracts = 0.82 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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15K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
How60.00 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$50
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
How50.00 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
IV3032.6%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$475K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:33 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.
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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$54+1.9%3d
Fri, Nov 20$56+5.6%10d
Fri, Nov 27$56+5.6%17d
Fri, Dec 4$53-0.0%24d
Fri, Dec 11too thin31d
Fri, Dec 18$57.5+8.5%38d
Fri, Jan 15$60+13.2%66d
Fri, Mar 19$57.5+8.5%129d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6028466583102120$93M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6027.542.557.572.587.51155K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CARR 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

spot604552.560658K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot28466583102120104%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot27.542.557.572.587.5115+$625K−$625K
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
0.97-0.00350.00510.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.0137.50.00750.02-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01400.01120.03-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.0142.50.01660.04-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01450.02430.05-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.0247.50.03450.06-0.02-0.20
0.70-0.02500.04580.08-0.02-0.30
0.58-0.0252.50.05450.09-0.02-0.43
0.44-0.02550.05640.09-0.02-0.57
0.31-0.0257.50.05060.08-0.02-0.70
0.21-0.01600.04080.07-0.02-0.81
0.14-0.0162.50.03070.05-0.01-0.89
0.09-0.01650.02230.04-0.01-0.94
0.06-0.0167.50.01600.03-0.01-0.97
0.04-0.01700.01150.02-0.01-0.99

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

spot4052566064682K0
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

spot27.544515967.587.534K34K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 50K call contracts, 87K 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: CARR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk