Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET

XLE max pain

Spot (delayed)$62.27
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$63
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-03-19 expiration, over 37 strikes carrying 267,531 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.52
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 7.52 USD, 12.1% of 62.27 spot.
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±12.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.07
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
How180,280 put contracts / 87,251 call contracts = 2.07 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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180K puts / 87K calls
Call wall$60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
How60.00 for the 2027-03-19 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$60
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
How60.00 for the 2027-03-19 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3027.0%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$10.8M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 8:04 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-03-19 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

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
Wed, Nov 11$63+1.2%1d
Fri, Nov 13$63.5+2.0%3d
Mon, Nov 16$63+1.2%6d
Wed, Nov 18$64+2.8%8d
Fri, Nov 20$65+4.4%10d
Mon, Nov 23too thin13d
Fri, Dec 18$62.5+0.4%38d
Thu, Dec 31one strike decides51d
Fri, Jan 15$55-11.7%66d
Fri, Mar 19$63+1.2%129d
Wed, Mar 31$60-3.6%141d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot63304254667890$495M$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 — 63 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6330475461688532K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLE open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot63305257626772468468
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30425466789079%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot304754616885+$2.9M−$2.9M
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01550.02630.10-0.01-0.19
0.79-0.01560.02900.11-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01570.03170.12-0.01-0.25
0.72-0.01580.03420.12-0.01-0.29
0.68-0.01590.03650.13-0.01-0.33
0.65-0.01600.03840.14-0.01-0.36
0.61-0.01610.04000.14-0.01-0.41
0.57-0.01620.04120.14-0.01-0.45
0.53-0.01630.04190.15-0.01-0.49
0.48-0.01640.04200.15-0.01-0.54
0.44-0.01650.04180.14-0.01-0.58
0.40-0.01660.04100.14-0.01-0.62
0.37-0.01670.03990.14-0.01-0.66
0.33-0.01680.03840.13-0.01-0.70
0.30-0.01690.03660.13-0.01-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355559.563.567.5725K0
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

spot22.54046.55763.569242K242K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.7M call contracts, 2.6M 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: XLE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk