Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET

IR max pain

Spot (delayed)$84.93
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.7
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 13.70 USD, 16.1% of 84.93 spot.
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±16.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.33
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET
How167 put contracts / 505 call contracts = 0.33 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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167 puts / 505 calls
Call wall$55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM 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$65
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET
How65.00 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
IV3033.5%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$40K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:10 AM 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 · flip ≈ $45

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 17.7% 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, 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 20one strike decides17d
Fri, Dec 18$75-11.7%45d
Fri, Jan 15$80-5.8%73d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides136d
Thu, Jun 17one strike decides226d
Fri, Sep 17one strike decides318d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 17.7% 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

spot40557085100126126
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IR 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

spot4059789711613583%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 4540557085100+$14K−$14K
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
0.95-0.01500.00300.04-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01550.00440.06-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01600.00620.08-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.01650.00880.10-0.02-0.12
0.82-0.02700.01220.13-0.02-0.17
0.76-0.02750.01620.16-0.02-0.24
0.66-0.02800.02020.19-0.02-0.33
0.55-0.02850.02320.20-0.02-0.45
0.44-0.02900.02370.20-0.02-0.57
0.33-0.02950.02180.19-0.02-0.68
0.25-0.021000.01870.17-0.02-0.77
0.19-0.021050.01540.14-0.02-0.83
0.05-0.011350.00490.06-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4060801001201455K0
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

spot4060801001201405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 20K call contracts, 7K 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: IR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk