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

H max pain

Spot (delayed)$191.55
⊙
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.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$59.25
⊙
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 2027-12-17 expiration = 59.25 USD, 30.9% of 191.55 spot.
Open the source document →
±30.9% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.73
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How312 put contracts / 427 call contracts = 0.73 for the 2027-12-17 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
312 puts / 427 calls
Call wall$220
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How220.00 for the 2027-12-17 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest call OI
Put wall$170
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:00 PM ET
How170.00 for the 2027-12-17 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3033.9%
⊙
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.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29K
⊙
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 2027-12-17 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.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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 17

spot80105150175200260257257
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)H open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot8012416821225630052%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 8580105150175200260+$52K−$52K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.021550.00350.57-0.03-0.21
0.78-0.021600.00380.60-0.03-0.23
0.75-0.021650.00400.63-0.03-0.26
0.73-0.031700.00420.66-0.03-0.28
0.71-0.031750.00440.69-0.03-0.31
0.68-0.031800.00470.71-0.03-0.33
0.66-0.031850.00480.73-0.04-0.36
0.63-0.031900.00500.75-0.04-0.39
0.61-0.031950.00520.77-0.04-0.41
0.58-0.032000.00530.78-0.04-0.44
0.53-0.032100.00540.80-0.04-0.50
0.48-0.032200.00550.80-0.04-0.56
0.43-0.032300.00550.79-0.04-0.62
0.39-0.032400.00540.77-0.04-0.68
0.30-0.032600.00500.70-0.03-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 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