Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 9:58 AM ET

KWEB max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.35
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:58 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 11Not showntoo thin to read
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.87
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:58 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-11 expiration = 1.87 USD, 8.0% of 23.35 spot.
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±8.0% by Fri, Dec 11
Put/Call OI0.60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:58 AM ET
How26 put contracts / 43 call contracts = 0.60 for the 2026-12-11 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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26 puts / 43 calls
IV3030.5%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:58 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol

Too thin to read: 69 open contracts across 7 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

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 6$23.5+0.7%3d
Fri, Nov 13$24+2.8%10d
Fri, Nov 20$24+2.8%17d
Fri, Nov 27$24.5+4.9%24d
Fri, Dec 4$24+2.8%31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$24+2.8%45d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides73d
Fri, Feb 19$24+2.8%108d
Fri, May 21$23-1.5%199d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Too thin to read: 69 open contracts across 7 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 11

spot202224263737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KWEB open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 11.

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 11

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 11

spot20212224252679%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01200.05560.01-0.01-0.09
0.80-0.0121.50.10740.02-0.01-0.20
0.74-0.01220.12770.02-0.01-0.26
0.68-0.0122.50.14630.03-0.01-0.33
0.43-0.01240.16760.03-0.01-0.58
0.23-0.0125.50.12590.02-0.01-0.80
0.18-0.01260.10720.02-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot152124.528334048K0
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

spot122127354759217K217K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.6M call contracts, 596K 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: KWEB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk