Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET

DCTH max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.1
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, May 21Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 8.00 USD, 39.8% of 20.10 spot.
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±39.8% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI3.87
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
How205 put contracts / 53 call contracts = 3.87 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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205 puts / 53 calls
Call wall$20
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
How20.00 for the 2027-05-21 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$12.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
How12.50 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3063.6%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$734
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:30 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-05-21 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

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 12.4% 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 20one strike decides10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Feb 19$12.5-37.8%101d
Fri, May 21one strike decides192d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 12.4% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot7.512.517.522.530200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DCTH open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot81217212630211%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spot7.512.517.522.530+$1K−$1K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.017.50.00680.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01100.01090.03-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.0112.50.01640.03-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01150.02310.04-0.01-0.21
0.70-0.0117.50.03020.05-0.01-0.29
0.60-0.01200.03600.06-0.01-0.39
0.51-0.0122.50.03880.06-0.01-0.48
0.43-0.01250.03860.06-0.01-0.57
0.30-0.01300.03360.05-0.01-0.70

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

spot5101520256130
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530628628
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 779 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: DCTH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk