Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET

WES max pain

Spot (delayed)$41
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 21Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.65
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2028-01-21 expiration = 7.65 USD, 18.7% of 41.00 spot.
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±18.7% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.78
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
How3,486 put contracts / 4,451 call contracts = 0.78 for the 2028-01-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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3K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
How60.00 for the 2028-01-21 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$37
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
How37.00 for the 2028-01-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3021.8%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$84K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:54 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2028-01-21 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 ≈ $42

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 12.2% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Event risk before this expiration: 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$42+2.4%10d
Fri, Dec 18$42+2.4%38d
Fri, Jan 15$42+2.4%66d
Fri, Feb 19$44+7.3%101d
Fri, May 21one strike decides192d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides437d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 12.2% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot20303745551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WES open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot2040424547101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot20293847566574%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 422030374555+$48K−$48K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00not quoted200.00380.02-0.00-0.02
1.00not quoted250.00040.00-0.00-0.06
1.00not quoted280.00300.01-0.00-0.09
0.98not quoted300.00870.02-0.00-0.13
0.92-0.00330.02620.06-0.00-0.21
0.84-0.00350.03930.09-0.00-0.28
0.74-0.00370.04790.13-0.00-0.36
0.58-0.00400.05040.15-0.00-0.48
0.49-0.00420.04850.16-0.00-0.56
0.36-0.00450.04370.15-0.00-0.68
0.29-0.00470.03950.14-0.00-0.74
0.20-0.00500.03240.12-0.00-0.82
0.11-0.00550.02120.08not quoted-0.91
0.06-0.00600.01280.05not quoted-0.96
0.03-0.00650.00740.03not quoted-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2033404448603K0
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

spot2033384348654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 27K call contracts, 14K 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: WES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk