Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET

RS max pain

Spot (delayed)$427.15
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.8
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 27.80 USD, 6.5% of 427.15 spot.
Open the source document →
±6.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.76
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
How385 put contracts / 505 call contracts = 0.76 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 →
385 puts / 505 calls
Call wall$450
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
How450.00 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 call OI
Put wall$420
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
How420.00 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
IV3025.5%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$135K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:01 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.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $210

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 11.7% 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$410-4.0%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Mar 19$370-13.4%129d
Thu, Jun 17too thin219d
Fri, Dec 17one strike decides402d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 11.7% 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

spot140190250320390460108108
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RS 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

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot200260320380440500103%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 210180220280340400460+$167K−$167K
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
0.93-0.093600.00260.19-0.09-0.07
0.91-0.103700.00340.23-0.11-0.09
0.88-0.123800.00440.28-0.12-0.13
0.83-0.143900.00570.34-0.14-0.17
0.78-0.154000.00730.41-0.16-0.23
0.70-0.174100.00900.48-0.18-0.30
0.61-0.184200.01050.53-0.19-0.40
0.50-0.184300.01130.55-0.19-0.51
0.39-0.174400.01110.53-0.18-0.63
0.29-0.154500.00980.47-0.16-0.73
0.21-0.134600.00810.40-0.13-0.82
0.15-0.114700.00640.32-0.10-0.88
0.07-0.074900.00360.20-0.06-0.95
0.05-0.055000.00270.15-0.04-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1502403203904605401240
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

spot140190280380480580377377
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: RS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk