Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET

HYG max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.93
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$77.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-27 expiration, over 17 strikes carrying 11,293 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.99
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-27 expiration = 0.99 USD, 1.3% of 76.93 spot.
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±1.3% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI0.10
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
How1,072 put contracts / 10,221 call contracts = 0.10 for the 2026-11-27 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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1K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$77.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
How77.50 for the 2026-11-27 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$76
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
How76.00 for the 2026-11-27 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV306.2%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19.7M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 10:15 AM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-27 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 ≈ $77.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 6$77.5+0.7%3d
Fri, Nov 13$77+0.1%10d
Fri, Nov 20$78+1.4%17d
Fri, Nov 27$77.5+0.7%24d
Fri, Dec 4$77+0.1%31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$78+1.4%45d
Fri, Jan 15$78+1.4%73d
Fri, Feb 19$78+1.4%108d
Fri, Mar 19$79+2.7%136d
Fri, Apr 16$79+2.7%164d
Fri, May 21$80+4.0%199d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot77.5717375777981$4M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 77.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot77.5717475.57778.58010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HYG open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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, Nov 27

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot71737577798117%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 6.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spotflip 77.5717475.57778.580+$20.8M−$20.8M
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, Nov 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0173.50.05000.03-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01740.06390.03-0.01-0.08
0.90-0.0174.50.08310.04-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01750.10950.04-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.0175.50.14610.05-0.01-0.17
0.77-0.01760.19580.06-0.01-0.24
0.68-0.0176.50.25840.07-0.01-0.34
0.54-0.01770.32290.08-0.01-0.48
0.36-0.0177.50.35110.07-0.01-0.69
0.18-0.01780.27700.06-0.01-0.94
0.08-0.0078.50.15140.03-0.01-1.00
0.04-0.00790.08100.02-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.0079.50.05420.02-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.00800.04060.01-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.00810.02610.01-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7377.5798184244K0
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

spot4053667581.5921.7M1.7M
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.7M call contracts, 7.7M 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: HYG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk