Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET

MA max pain

Spot (delayed)$669.05
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$570
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-03-19 expiration, over 52 strikes carrying 11,454 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-14.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.35
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 78.35 USD, 11.7% of 669.05 spot.
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±11.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.29
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
How6,447 put contracts / 5,007 call contracts = 1.29 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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6K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$590
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
How590.00 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$520
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
How520.00 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
IV3022.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.6M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 11:48 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 ≈ $650

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$640-4.3%2d
Fri, Nov 13$630-5.8%9d
Fri, Nov 20$595-11.1%16d
Fri, Nov 27$630-5.8%23d
Fri, Dec 4$625-6.6%30d
Fri, Dec 11too thin37d
Fri, Dec 18$575-14.1%44d
Fri, Jan 15$570-14.8%72d
Fri, Mar 19$570-14.8%135d
Fri, Apr 16$620-7.3%163d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot570250368486604722840$164M$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 — 570 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot570250340430520610720544544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MA 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

spot570370560620650680740205205
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot25036848660472284075%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 650360430500570640740+$553K−$553K
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
0.80-0.096000.00261.14-0.11-0.20
0.78-0.106100.00281.22-0.12-0.23
0.74-0.116200.00311.31-0.12-0.26
0.71-0.116300.00331.39-0.13-0.29
0.68-0.126400.00351.46-0.14-0.33
0.64-0.136500.00371.52-0.14-0.37
0.60-0.136600.00381.56-0.14-0.41
0.56-0.136700.00401.60-0.14-0.45
0.53-0.146800.00401.62-0.14-0.49
0.45-0.147000.00411.61-0.14-0.58
0.37-0.137200.00391.54-0.13-0.66
0.30-0.127400.00361.42-0.12-0.74
0.23-0.107600.00321.26-0.11-0.81
0.18-0.097800.00281.09-0.09-0.88
0.14-0.078000.00230.92-0.07-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot360485550605637.5672.52K0
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

spot2404005105806357004K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 76K call contracts, 82K 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: MA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk