Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET

MSTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.47
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 5.00 USD, 47.7% of 10.47 spot.
Open the source document →
±47.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.48
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
How7,244 put contracts / 14,991 call contracts = 0.48 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 →
7K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$60
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
How60.00 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 call OI
Put wall$9
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
How9.00 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
IV30148.9%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 5:31 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.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $3

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.6% 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, 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 13one strike decides3d
Fri, Nov 20one strike decides10d
Fri, Nov 27$13+24.2%17d
Fri, Dec 4$17+62.4%24d
Fri, Dec 11$15+43.3%31d
Fri, Dec 18$17+62.4%38d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides66d
Fri, Mar 19$9-14.0%129d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.6% 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

spot111202938472K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSTX 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

spot59132027386386
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11325364860441%94%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 148.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 331221303948+$11K−$11K
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
0.96-0.0130.01140.00-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.0140.01720.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.0150.02430.01-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.0160.03260.01-0.01-0.13
0.81-0.0170.04120.01-0.01-0.18
0.75-0.0280.04920.01-0.01-0.24
0.68-0.0290.05540.01-0.02-0.30
0.62-0.02100.05960.02-0.02-0.36
0.56-0.02110.06170.02-0.02-0.42
0.50-0.02120.06210.02-0.02-0.47
0.45-0.02130.06130.02-0.02-0.52
0.41-0.02140.05960.02-0.02-0.56
0.37-0.02150.05740.02-0.02-0.60
0.33-0.02160.05490.02-0.02-0.64
0.30-0.02170.05230.01-0.02-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 53 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110.514.518.523299810
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

spot110.51723.530435K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 33K 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: MSTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk