Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET

AJG max pain

Spot (delayed)$280.6
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$260
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 24 strikes carrying 5,389 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 13.50 USD, 4.8% of 280.60 spot.
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±4.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.30
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
How3,050 put contracts / 2,339 call contracts = 1.30 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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3K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$280
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
How280.00 for the 2026-11-20 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$240
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
How240.00 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3032.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.2M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:26 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-20 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 ≈ $180

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$260-7.3%10d
Fri, Dec 18$230-18.0%38d
Fri, Jan 15$240-14.5%66d
Fri, Apr 16$250-10.9%157d
Fri, Sep 17$250-10.9%311d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260125174223272321370$36M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot260125180200240280320872872
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AJG open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot260260280290300200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot180218256294332370119%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 180165195230270310370+$915K−$915K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.032100.00070.01-0.04-0.01
0.98-0.042200.00120.02-0.05-0.01
0.97-0.072300.00200.03-0.07-0.03
0.96-0.102400.00340.04-0.10-0.04
0.93-0.142500.00590.07-0.14-0.07
0.87-0.202600.01040.11-0.20-0.14
0.75-0.272700.01740.16-0.27-0.26
0.55-0.312800.02320.19-0.32-0.46
0.33-0.292900.02080.18-0.29-0.68
0.18-0.223000.01390.13-0.23-0.83
0.10-0.173100.00860.09-0.17-0.91
0.06-0.123200.00540.06-0.13-0.95
0.04-0.093300.00350.04-0.09-0.97
0.01-0.043600.00120.02-0.04-1.00
0.01-0.043700.00090.01-0.04-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101551852302903501K0
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

spot1101501902603404201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: AJG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk