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, Jan 15$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 2027-01-15 expiration, over 66 strikes carrying 33,239 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)±$28.38
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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 2027-01-15 expiration = 28.38 USD, 48.7% of 58.28 spot.
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±48.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.59
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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
How12,351 put contracts / 20,888 call contracts = 0.59 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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12K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$105
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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
How105.00 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$30
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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
How30.00 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
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+$387K
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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 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 ≈ $40

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · 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 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

spot402037547188105$83M$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, Jan 15

spot402028384963855K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SOXS open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15. Showing the 45 largest of 66 strikes by open interest, 97.9% 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, Jan 15

spot40153548556895156156
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2037547188105147%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 139.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 40202838496385+$142K−$142K
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
0.76-0.08490.01040.08-0.08-0.29
0.74-0.08500.01060.08-0.08-0.30
0.73-0.08510.01080.08-0.08-0.32
0.72-0.08520.01100.09-0.08-0.33
0.70-0.09540.01130.09-0.09-0.35
0.68-0.09550.01140.09-0.09-0.36
0.67-0.09560.01150.09-0.09-0.37
0.63-0.09600.01190.10-0.09-0.42
0.59-0.10630.01200.10-0.09-0.45
0.57-0.10650.01200.10-0.10-0.47
0.54-0.10680.01200.10-0.10-0.50
0.52-0.10700.01200.10-0.10-0.52
0.49-0.10730.01190.10-0.10-0.54
0.48-0.10750.01180.10-0.10-0.56
0.46-0.10770.01170.10-0.10-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 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