Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET

XLK max pain

Spot (delayed)$169.86
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$190
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-03-19 expiration, over 67 strikes carrying 58,742 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+11.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$23.95
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-03-19 expiration = 23.95 USD, 14.1% of 169.86 spot.
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±14.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.42
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How34,485 put contracts / 24,257 call contracts = 1.42 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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34K puts / 24K calls
Call wall$200
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How200.00 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$170
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How170.00 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
IV3031.4%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6.9M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 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 · flip ≈ $100

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 13$171+0.7%3d
Fri, Nov 20$185+8.9%10d
Fri, Nov 27$180+6.0%17d
Fri, Dec 4$178+4.8%24d
Fri, Dec 11$165-2.9%31d
Fri, Dec 18$175+3.0%38d
Fri, Jan 15$172.5+1.6%66d
Fri, Mar 19$190+11.9%129d
Fri, Apr 16$185+8.9%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot190105137169201233265$228M$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1901051551751851952205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLK open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19. Showing the 47 largest of 67 strikes by open interest, 98.5% 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, Mar 19

spot1901201651761831942151K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10513716920123326550%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 100105155175185195220+$1.8M−$1.8M
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
0.90-0.021300.00430.18-0.03-0.10
0.85-0.031400.00620.23-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.031450.00740.27-0.04-0.18
0.78-0.041500.00860.30-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.041550.00990.33-0.04-0.27
0.68-0.041600.01110.36-0.04-0.33
0.62-0.041650.01220.38-0.05-0.39
0.56-0.041700.01300.40-0.05-0.45
0.55-0.041710.01320.40-0.05-0.47
0.53-0.041720.01330.40-0.05-0.48
0.52-0.041730.01340.40-0.05-0.50
0.51-0.041740.01340.40-0.05-0.51
0.49-0.041750.01350.40-0.05-0.52
0.48-0.041760.01360.40-0.05-0.54
0.47-0.041770.01360.40-0.05-0.55

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

spot1051641751831911984K0
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

spot45105142.5172.5187212.598K98K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 312K call contracts, 686K 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: XLK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk