Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET

HXL max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.72
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.05
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 15.05 USD, 18.4% of 81.72 spot.
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±18.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.24
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
How41 put contracts / 168 call contracts = 0.24 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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41 puts / 168 calls
Call wall$55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
How55.00 for the 2027-03-19 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$70
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
How70.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3035.3%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 9:08 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-03-19 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 36.7% 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 20one strike decides10d
Fri, Dec 18$90+10.1%38d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides66d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides129d
Thu, Jun 17too thin219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 36.7% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5575951151351556868
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HXL open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot55759511513515570%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot557595115135155+$3K−$3K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01550.00570.08-0.02-0.09
0.88-0.02600.00780.10-0.02-0.12
0.84-0.02650.01070.12-0.02-0.16
0.78-0.02700.01420.14-0.02-0.22
0.70-0.02750.01810.17-0.03-0.30
0.60-0.03800.02120.19-0.03-0.41
0.49-0.03850.02230.19-0.03-0.52
0.39-0.03900.02110.18-0.03-0.62
0.31-0.03950.01870.17-0.03-0.70
0.25-0.021000.01600.15-0.02-0.76
0.21-0.021050.01370.14-0.02-0.81
0.17-0.021100.01170.13-0.02-0.85
0.15-0.021150.01010.11-0.02-0.88

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

spot4565851051251451K0
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

spot4565851051251451K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 980 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: HXL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk