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

SOXS max pain

Spot (delayed)$58.28
⊙
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.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$48
⊙
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 2026-12-04 expiration, over 71 strikes carrying 6,616 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
-17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.18
⊙
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 2026-12-04 expiration = 19.18 USD, 32.9% of 58.28 spot.
Open the source document →
±32.9% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI0.21
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How1,148 put contracts / 5,468 call contracts = 0.21 for the 2026-12-04 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
1K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$80
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How80.00 for the 2026-12-04 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$53
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 12:17 PM ET
How53.00 for the 2026-12-04 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV30145.6%
⊙
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.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$211K
⊙
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 2026-12-04 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 ≈ $47.5

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, 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

spot48304050607080$4M$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot48304047.55365804K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXS open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4. Showing the 31 largest of 71 strikes by open interest, 96.9% 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, Dec 4

spot48303842.5485561269269
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot304050607080151%117%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 144.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spotflip 47.5304047.5536580+$189K−$189K
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
0.72-0.13500.01390.06-0.13-0.28
0.71-0.14510.01430.06-0.14-0.29
0.69-0.14520.01460.06-0.14-0.31
0.68-0.14530.01490.06-0.14-0.33
0.66-0.15540.01510.06-0.15-0.34
0.64-0.15550.01540.06-0.15-0.36
0.63-0.15560.01560.06-0.15-0.38
0.56-0.16600.01600.07-0.16-0.44
0.55-0.16610.01610.07-0.16-0.45
0.49-0.16650.01600.07-0.16-0.51
0.48-0.16660.01600.07-0.16-0.53
0.46-0.16670.01590.07-0.16-0.54
0.45-0.16680.01580.07-0.16-0.55
0.38-0.16740.01500.06-0.16-0.63
0.36-0.16750.01480.06-0.16-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 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