Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET

P max pain

Spot (delayed)$101.98
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.75
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 23.75 USD, 23.3% of 101.98 spot.
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±23.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.89
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
How2,546 put contracts / 2,875 call contracts = 0.89 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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3K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$120
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
How120.00 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$115
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
How115.00 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 put OI
IV3099.4%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$62K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:07 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

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.8% 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$110+7.9%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Jan 15$85-16.7%66d
Fri, Feb 19$110+7.9%101d
Fri, May 21$130+27.5%192d
Thu, Jun 17$165+61.8%219d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.8% 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

spot6590115140165190481481
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)P 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

spot70901101301502203939
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6596127158189220109%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6590115140165190+$62K−$62K
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
0.93-0.06650.00380.04-0.06-0.07
0.90-0.07700.00500.06-0.07-0.10
0.87-0.09750.00640.07-0.09-0.13
0.82-0.11800.00800.09-0.11-0.18
0.77-0.12850.00950.10-0.13-0.23
0.71-0.14900.01090.11-0.14-0.28
0.65-0.15950.01200.12-0.15-0.35
0.59-0.151000.01280.13-0.15-0.41
0.52-0.151050.01330.13-0.16-0.48
0.46-0.151100.01340.13-0.15-0.54
0.40-0.151150.01310.13-0.15-0.60
0.34-0.141200.01250.12-0.14-0.66
0.29-0.131250.01170.11-0.13-0.71
0.24-0.121300.01070.10-0.12-0.76
0.20-0.101350.00970.09-0.10-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2050851201551905K0
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

spot20508512015519010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 79K call contracts, 67K 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: P workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk