Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 2:08 AM ET

SOXL max pain

Spot (delayed)$102.39
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$105+2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.5±29.8% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI2.124K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV30118.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$121Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$100-2.3%today
Fri, Nov 6$105+2.5%7d
Fri, Nov 13$115+12.3%14d
Fri, Nov 20$115+12.3%21d
Fri, Nov 27$105+2.5%28d
Fri, Dec 4$105+2.5%35d
Fri, Dec 18$120+17.2%49d
Fri, Jan 15$55-46.3%77d
Fri, Feb 19$115+12.3%112d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105456483102121140$12M$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot105457598105.5118130362362
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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 4

spot105457598105.5118130586586
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot456483102121140153%115%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 121.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot457598105.5118130+$28K−$28K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.65-0.18850.01040.11-0.18-0.35
0.59-0.18900.01090.11-0.19-0.41
0.54-0.19950.01120.11-0.19-0.46
0.52-0.19970.01130.11-0.19-0.48
0.51-0.19980.01130.11-0.19-0.49
0.48-0.191000.01130.11-0.19-0.52
0.48-0.19100.50.01130.11-0.19-0.52
0.47-0.191010.01130.11-0.19-0.53
0.44-0.191040.01120.11-0.18-0.56
0.43-0.191050.01120.11-0.18-0.57
0.43-0.19105.50.01120.11-0.18-0.57
0.41-0.181070.01110.11-0.18-0.58
0.39-0.181100.01090.11-0.17-0.61
0.36-0.181130.01070.11-0.17-0.64
0.34-0.171150.01050.10-0.17-0.66

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot459711012213716517K0
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

spot124447011519050K50K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 711K call contracts, 1.1M 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.

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: SOXL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk