Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET

ROL max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.42
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, May 21Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.8
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 7.80 USD, 20.3% of 38.42 spot.
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±20.3% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.71
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
How1,123 put contracts / 657 call contracts = 1.71 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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1K puts / 657 calls
Call wall$32.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
How32.50 for the 2027-05-21 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$37.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
How37.50 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3030.4%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$36K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:05 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-05-21 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 ≈ $20

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 19.5% 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$37.5-2.4%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Jan 15$32.5-15.4%66d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides101d
Fri, May 21one strike decides192d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides437d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 19.5% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot17.522.527.532.537.542.5960960
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROL open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot20253035404572%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 2017.522.527.532.537.542.5+$58K−$58K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97not quoted200.00410.02-0.00-0.03
0.96not quoted22.50.00660.02-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.00250.01000.03-0.00-0.07
0.90-0.0027.50.01470.05-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.00300.02080.06-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0132.50.02800.08-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.01350.03540.09-0.01-0.30
0.61-0.0137.50.04150.10-0.01-0.40
0.50-0.01400.04470.11-0.01-0.51
0.40-0.0142.50.04400.11-0.01-0.62
0.30-0.01450.04010.10-0.01-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25354555653K0
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

spot1525354555659K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 26K 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: ROL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk