Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET

H max pain

Spot (delayed)$191.55
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.7
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 16.70 USD, 8.7% of 191.55 spot.
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±8.7% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.15
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How335 put contracts / 292 call contracts = 1.15 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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335 puts / 292 calls
Call wall$190
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How190.00 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$160
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How160.00 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
IV3033.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 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 ≈ $195

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 7.8% 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$165-13.9%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Jan 15$160-16.5%66d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides101d
Fri, May 21too thin192d
Fri, Dec 17one strike decides402d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 7.8% 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

spot100130150175195230165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)H 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

spot100126152178204230121%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 195100130150175195230+$36K−$36K
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
0.94-0.051500.00400.07-0.05-0.06
0.93-0.051550.00500.09-0.06-0.08
0.90-0.061600.00640.10-0.06-0.10
0.83-0.081700.01020.15-0.08-0.17
0.78-0.091750.01260.18-0.09-0.22
0.72-0.101800.01520.21-0.10-0.28
0.64-0.101850.01760.23-0.10-0.36
0.55-0.111900.01900.24-0.11-0.45
0.45-0.111950.01920.24-0.11-0.55
0.36-0.102000.01800.23-0.10-0.64
0.23-0.092100.01360.19-0.08-0.77
0.14-0.072200.00950.14-0.07-0.85
0.10-0.062300.00660.11-0.05-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851251601852202570
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

spot80110140170200260320320
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: H workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk