Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET

SGOV max pain

Spot (delayed)$100.52
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$101
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 14 strikes carrying 1,897 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.74
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 0.74 USD, 0.7% of 100.52 spot.
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±0.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.17
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
How1,023 put contracts / 874 call contracts = 1.17 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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1K puts / 874 calls
Call wall$101
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
How101.00 for the 2027-01-15 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$100
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
How100.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV301.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:53 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.
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per 1% move · flip ≈ $99

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$97-3.5%9d
Fri, Dec 18$101+0.5%37d
Fri, Jan 15$101+0.5%65d
Fri, Mar 19$100-0.5%128d
Thu, Jun 17$101+0.5%218d
Fri, Jan 21$101+0.5%436d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot101899499105110115$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 101 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1018998101104113836836
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SGOV 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

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot991001011011021033%1%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 1.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 998998101104113+$4.9M−$4.9M
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
1.00not quoted890.00060.00-0.00-0.01
1.00not quoted910.00100.00-0.00-0.01
0.99not quoted970.01060.01-0.00-0.03
0.99not quoted980.02060.02-0.00-0.05
0.990.00990.05120.03-0.00-0.09
0.960.001000.23890.07-0.00-0.29
0.20-0.001010.67300.140.00-0.96
0.07-0.001020.13530.080.00-0.98
0.04-0.001030.06000.05not quoted-0.99
0.02-0.001040.03340.04not quoted-0.99
0.02-0.001050.02110.03not quoted-0.99
0.010.001110.00390.01not quoted-1.00
0.000.001130.00260.01not quoted-1.00
0.000.001150.00190.01not quoted-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot55981021061101143K0
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

spot5587951031111356K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 10K 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: SGOV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk