Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET

MTN max pain

Spot (delayed)$156.51
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 17.55 USD, 11.2% of 156.51 spot.
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±11.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.19
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
How254 put contracts / 214 call contracts = 1.19 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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254 puts / 214 calls
Call wall$175
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
How175.00 for the 2026-12-18 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$160
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
How160.00 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3040.5%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$14K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 10:56 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-12-18 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 ≈ $125

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 6.4% 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 20$140-10.5%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Jan 15$145-7.4%66d
Fri, Apr 16$140-10.5%157d
Fri, Dec 17$140-10.5%402d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 6.4% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot120135150165180210100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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 18

spot135150160165110110
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12013815617419221062%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 125120135150165180210+$37K−$37K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.031200.00390.06-0.04-0.05
0.93-0.041250.00530.07-0.05-0.07
0.90-0.061300.00720.09-0.06-0.10
0.86-0.071350.00940.11-0.07-0.14
0.81-0.081400.01210.14-0.08-0.20
0.74-0.091450.01480.16-0.10-0.26
0.66-0.101500.01720.19-0.10-0.34
0.57-0.111550.01890.20-0.11-0.44
0.47-0.111600.01940.20-0.11-0.54
0.38-0.101650.01870.19-0.10-0.63
0.29-0.091700.01700.17-0.09-0.72
0.23-0.081750.01460.15-0.08-0.79
0.17-0.071800.01220.13-0.07-0.85
0.13-0.061850.00990.11-0.06-0.89
0.06-0.032000.00490.06-0.04-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901201401601802002K0
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

spot65951251551852304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 13K 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: MTN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk