Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET

ZSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.42
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, May 21Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2027-05-21 expiration = 15.50 USD, 42.6% of 36.42 spot.
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±42.6% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI1.52
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
How673 put contracts / 444 call contracts = 1.52 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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673 puts / 444 calls
Call wall$15
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
How15.00 for the 2027-05-21 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$20
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
How20.00 for the 2027-05-21 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3079.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 6:53 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2027-05-21 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 ≈ $20

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 19.2% 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$29-20.4%10d
Fri, Dec 18$29-20.4%38d
Fri, Jan 15$23-36.8%66d
Fri, Feb 19$25-31.4%101d
Fri, May 21one strike decides192d
Fri, Jan 21$23-36.8%437d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 19.2% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot152229364150192192
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ZSL open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot1730506077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot152433425160113%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 20152229364150+$3K−$3K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.01250.01540.06-0.01-0.18
0.75-0.02280.01720.08-0.01-0.23
0.72-0.02290.01780.08-0.01-0.25
0.70-0.02300.01820.08-0.02-0.27
0.68-0.02310.01860.09-0.02-0.29
0.66-0.02320.01900.09-0.02-0.31
0.59-0.02350.01960.10-0.02-0.37
0.57-0.02360.01980.10-0.02-0.38
0.56-0.02370.01980.10-0.02-0.40
0.54-0.02380.01980.10-0.02-0.42
0.52-0.02390.01980.10-0.02-0.44
0.50-0.02400.01970.10-0.02-0.45
0.48-0.02410.01960.10-0.02-0.47
0.47-0.02420.01950.10-0.02-0.48
0.45-0.02430.01940.10-0.02-0.50

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1022283440605780
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

spot19172533418K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 16K 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: ZSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk