Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET

BP max pain

Spot (delayed)$44.7
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 45 strikes carrying 71,835 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.63
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 2.63 USD, 5.9% of 44.70 spot.
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±5.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.42
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
How21,294 put contracts / 50,541 call contracts = 0.42 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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21K puts / 51K calls
Call wall$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
How45.00 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$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
How45.00 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
IV3033.0%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.2M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 5, 5:17 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 ≈ $33

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 6$48+7.4%1d
Fri, Nov 13$47+5.1%8d
Fri, Nov 20$45+0.7%15d
Fri, Nov 27$47+5.1%22d
Fri, Dec 4$45+0.7%29d
Fri, Dec 11too thin36d
Fri, Dec 18$42-6.0%43d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides71d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides134d
Fri, Apr 16$47+5.1%162d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45233242516170$116M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4523354347525817K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BP 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

spot4523424547.55055684684
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot334048556370138%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 33233643.547.552.559+$2.5M−$2.5M
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
0.98-0.00390.01420.00-0.01-0.05
0.97-0.01400.02850.01-0.02-0.08
0.93-0.02410.05440.01-0.02-0.14
0.85-0.03420.08890.02-0.03-0.22
0.74-0.04430.12140.03-0.04-0.33
0.68-0.0543.50.13320.03-0.04-0.39
0.61-0.05440.14050.03-0.04-0.45
0.54-0.0544.50.14280.03-0.04-0.51
0.46-0.05450.14050.04-0.04-0.57
0.40-0.0445.50.13400.03-0.04-0.64
0.33-0.04460.12430.03-0.04-0.69
0.28-0.0446.50.11250.03-0.03-0.74
0.23-0.03470.09960.03-0.03-0.79
0.18-0.0347.50.08650.02-0.03-0.83
0.15-0.02480.07380.02-0.02-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot23364448536018K0
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

spot15293844.5495646K46K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 259K call contracts, 178K 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: BP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk