Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET

HL max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.35
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 2.05 USD, 14.3% of 14.35 spot.
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±14.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.66
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
How32,847 put contracts / 49,449 call contracts = 0.66 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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33K puts / 49K calls
Call wall$22
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
How22.00 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$16
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
How16.00 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
IV3055.8%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$239K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:55 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 ≈ $5

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 7% 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 13$14.5+1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$15+4.5%10d
Fri, Nov 27$14.5+1.0%17d
Fri, Dec 4$15+4.5%24d
Fri, Dec 11$14.5+1.0%31d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Jan 15$12-16.4%66d
Fri, Mar 19$16+11.5%129d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 7% 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

spot381318232811K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HL 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

spot1013161924271K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3916222935201%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 551015202535+$175K−$175K
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
1.00not quoted70.00290.00-0.00-0.00
0.990.0080.00620.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0090.01320.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00100.02670.00-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.01110.05060.01-0.01-0.08
0.85-0.01120.08590.01-0.01-0.15
0.74-0.01130.12490.01-0.01-0.27
0.59-0.01140.15090.02-0.01-0.41
0.44-0.01150.15260.02-0.01-0.56
0.31-0.01160.13410.02-0.01-0.70
0.21-0.01170.10740.01-0.01-0.80
0.14-0.01180.08140.01-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01190.05990.01-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01200.04340.01-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.00210.03140.00-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot511.514.517.520.5248K0
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

spot11015202636288K288K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 425K call contracts, 448K 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: HL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk