Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET

BMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$171.7
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$175
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 22 strikes carrying 4,052 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.77
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 7.77 USD, 4.5% of 171.70 spot.
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±4.5% by Fri, Nov 20
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 3, 11:56 PM ET
How1,581 put contracts / 2,471 call contracts = 0.64 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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2K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$185
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
How185.00 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$175
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
How175.00 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
IV3023.7%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$404K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 11:56 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 ≈ $165

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$175+1.9%16d
Fri, Dec 18$180+4.8%44d
Fri, Jan 15$165-3.9%72d
Fri, Mar 19$160-6.8%135d
Thu, Jun 17one strike decides225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17580106132158184210$14M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17580120140160180200747747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BMO 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

spot17516517017518018599
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot12013815617419221092%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 165105130150170190+$383K−$383K
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
0.99-0.011350.00140.01-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.011400.00230.01-0.02-0.02
0.98-0.021450.00380.02-0.03-0.03
0.96-0.031500.00640.03-0.04-0.04
0.93-0.051550.01080.05-0.05-0.07
0.87-0.071600.01820.08-0.07-0.13
0.78-0.091650.02920.11-0.09-0.23
0.61-0.101700.04140.14-0.11-0.40
0.39-0.101750.04480.14-0.10-0.63
0.19-0.071800.03270.10-0.07-0.84
0.08-0.041850.01750.06-0.04-0.97
0.03-0.021900.00810.03-0.03-1.00
0.01-0.011950.00370.01-0.03-1.00
0.01-0.002000.00170.01-0.03-1.00
0.00-0.002100.00040.00-0.03-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot701101351601852202K0
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

spot45801151501852402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: BMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk