Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET

XSD max pain

Spot (delayed)$440.53
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$475
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2027-01-15 expiration, over 85 strikes carrying 878 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$71.25
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-01-15 expiration = 71.25 USD, 16.2% of 440.53 spot.
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±16.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.64
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
How341 put contracts / 537 call contracts = 0.64 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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341 puts / 537 calls
Call wall$435
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
How435.00 for the 2027-01-15 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$360
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
How360.00 for the 2027-01-15 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3052.0%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:44 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-01-15 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 ≈ $265

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$460+4.4%10d
Fri, Dec 18$470+6.7%38d
Fri, Jan 15$475+7.8%66d
Fri, Apr 16$420-4.7%157d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot475255391527663799935$20M$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 — 475 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot4752553254204955656505252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XSD open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15. Showing the 60 largest of 85 strikes by open interest, 96.2% 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, Jan 15

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot25539152766379993584%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 265255330425500570655+$43K−$43K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.74-0.233950.00340.61-0.24-0.26
0.72-0.244000.00350.63-0.24-0.28
0.70-0.244050.00370.65-0.25-0.30
0.68-0.254100.00380.67-0.25-0.32
0.64-0.254200.00410.70-0.26-0.36
0.62-0.264250.00420.71-0.26-0.38
0.60-0.264300.00430.72-0.26-0.40
0.58-0.264350.00440.73-0.27-0.43
0.51-0.264500.00460.75-0.26-0.49
0.47-0.264600.00460.74-0.26-0.54
0.40-0.244750.00460.72-0.25-0.61
0.38-0.244800.00450.71-0.24-0.63
0.35-0.234850.00440.70-0.23-0.66
0.33-0.234900.00440.68-0.23-0.68
0.31-0.224950.00430.66-0.22-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot255355460525600675860
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

spot2503504204905606508787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 997 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: XSD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk