Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET

TDG max pain

Spot (delayed)$1,197
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$1,000
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-12-17 expiration, over 47 strikes carrying 313 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
-16.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$327.05
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-12-17 expiration = 327.05 USD, 27.3% of 1,197.01 spot.
Open the source document →
±27.3% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.93
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
How151 put contracts / 162 call contracts = 0.93 for the 2027-12-17 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
151 puts / 162 calls
Call wall$1,500
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
How1,500.00 for the 2027-12-17 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$780
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
How780.00 for the 2027-12-17 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3040.5%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$57K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 8, 6:31 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-12-17 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 ≈ $780

Event risk before this expiration: 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 20$1,170-2.3%12d
Fri, Dec 18$1,120-6.4%40d
Fri, Feb 19$1,160-3.1%103d
Fri, May 21$1,090-8.9%194d
Fri, Dec 17$1,000-16.5%404d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot10006008601120138016401900$11M$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 — 1000 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot100060078010001180138015605353
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TDG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot600860112013801640190042%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 7806007801000122014201600+$68K−$68K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.75-0.1310600.00084.03-0.17-0.27
0.73-0.1410800.00084.16-0.18-0.28
0.72-0.1411000.00084.29-0.18-0.30
0.70-0.1511200.00084.41-0.18-0.32
0.68-0.1511400.00094.52-0.19-0.34
0.66-0.1611600.00094.62-0.19-0.36
0.65-0.1611800.00094.71-0.20-0.38
0.63-0.1712000.00094.79-0.20-0.40
0.61-0.1712200.00094.85-0.20-0.42
0.59-0.1712400.00104.91-0.20-0.45
0.55-0.1812800.00105.00-0.21-0.49
0.54-0.1813000.00105.02-0.21-0.51
0.52-0.1813200.00105.04-0.21-0.53
0.50-0.1813400.00105.04-0.21-0.56
0.46-0.1813800.00105.02-0.21-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot650100011301240136015602490
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

spot7409501100120013001460676676
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 4K 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: TDG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk