Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET

INFQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.17
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 15Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.38
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 2.38 USD, 29.1% of 8.17 spot.
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±29.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.43
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET
How28,189 put contracts / 65,999 call contracts = 0.43 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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28K puts / 66K calls
Call wall$25
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET
How25.00 for the 2027-01-15 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$10
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 PM ET
How10.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3087.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:13 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 2, 6:13 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-01-15 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 30.6% 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, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · 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 6one strike decides3d
Fri, Nov 13one strike decides10d
Fri, Nov 20$10+22.4%17d
Fri, Nov 27one strike decides24d
Fri, Dec 4$9.5+16.3%31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$10+22.4%45d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides73d
Fri, Mar 19$10+22.4%136d
Fri, Apr 16$10+22.4%164d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 30.6% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2.591419242811K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INFQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot5912.5162140327327
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31018253340145%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 52.5914192428+$40K−$40K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00not quoted2.50.00470.00-0.00-0.01
0.93-0.0050.04240.01-0.00-0.07
0.86-0.0060.07610.01-0.01-0.15
0.68-0.017.50.12120.01-0.01-0.33
0.49-0.0190.13040.01-0.01-0.52
0.39-0.01100.12160.01-0.01-0.63
0.31-0.01110.10830.01-0.01-0.71
0.22-0.0112.50.08730.01-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.01140.06920.01-0.01-0.87
0.13-0.01150.05920.01-0.01-0.90
0.11-0.00160.05080.01-0.00-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot49.512.515.518.5244K0
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

spot271115192620K20K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 147K call contracts, 47K 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: INFQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk