Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET

SOXS max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.28
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 78 strikes carrying 65,340 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-31.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.38
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 15.38 USD, 26.4% of 58.28 spot.
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±26.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How23,135 put contracts / 42,205 call contracts = 0.55 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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23K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$50
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How50.00 for the 2026-11-20 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$40
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How40.00 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV30145.6%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-20 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 ≈ $34

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 6$43.5-25.4%2d
Fri, Nov 13$40-31.4%9d
Fri, Nov 20$40-31.4%16d
Fri, Nov 27$42-27.9%23d
Fri, Dec 4$48-17.6%30d
Fri, Dec 11$40-31.4%37d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides44d
Fri, Jan 15$40-31.4%72d
Fri, Feb 19$44-24.5%107d
Fri, May 21$37-36.5%198d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot401533516987105$207M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4015283746557010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20. Showing the 54 largest of 78 strikes by open interest, 98.7% of the total.

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, Nov 20

spot4020384451.561741K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1533516987105297%89%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 157.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 34202938475772+$493K−$493K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.74-0.18500.01730.04-0.19-0.26
0.72-0.19510.01800.04-0.20-0.28
0.70-0.20520.01850.04-0.20-0.30
0.68-0.21530.01900.04-0.21-0.32
0.66-0.21540.01950.04-0.22-0.34
0.64-0.22550.01990.05-0.22-0.36
0.60-0.23570.02040.05-0.23-0.40
0.58-0.23580.02060.05-0.23-0.42
0.54-0.24600.02080.05-0.24-0.47
0.52-0.24610.02080.05-0.24-0.48
0.50-0.24620.02070.05-0.24-0.50
0.44-0.24650.02030.05-0.24-0.56
0.43-0.24660.02010.05-0.24-0.58
0.38-0.23690.01930.05-0.23-0.63
0.36-0.23700.01900.05-0.23-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2031.53947.5587212K0
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

spot15303847587016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 135K call contracts, 100K 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: SOXS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk