Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 1:09 AM ET

WEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$184.87
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 1:09 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Dec 18Not showntoo thin to read
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.2
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 1:09 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-12-18 expiration = 19.20 USD, 10.4% of 184.87 spot.
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±10.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI14.25
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 1:09 AM ET
How57 put contracts / 4 call contracts = 14.25 for the 2026-12-18 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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57 puts / 4 calls
IV3035.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 1:09 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol

Too thin to read: 61 open contracts across 7 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

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 20one strike decides17d
Fri, Dec 18too thin45d
Fri, Feb 19$160-13.5%108d
Fri, May 21too thin199d
Fri, Dec 17$180-2.6%409d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Too thin to read: 61 open contracts across 7 strikes. Max pain, walls and gamma print from 100 contracts across 5 strikes.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1601701852303030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WEX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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 18

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot16017418820221623044%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.061600.00800.14-0.06-0.13
0.83-0.071650.00990.17-0.07-0.18
0.77-0.081700.01210.20-0.08-0.23
0.71-0.091750.01410.23-0.09-0.30
0.55-0.101850.01680.26-0.10-0.46
0.32-0.092000.01500.23-0.09-0.71
0.08-0.042300.00560.10-0.04-0.96

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

spot1001351551751952305000
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

spot65100135170210280500500
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: WEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk