Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET

BTDR max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.2
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 1.45 USD, 23.4% of 6.20 spot.
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±23.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.51
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
How19,932 put contracts / 39,453 call contracts = 0.51 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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20K puts / 39K calls
Call wall$8
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
How8.00 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$6
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
How6.00 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
IV30122.4%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$86K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:57 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 ≈ $5

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 32.3% 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, 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 6one strike decides3d
Fri, Nov 13$8+29.0%10d
Fri, Nov 20one strike decides17d
Fri, Nov 27$10+61.3%24d
Fri, Dec 4one strike decides31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$10+61.3%45d
Fri, Jan 15$10+61.3%73d
Fri, Mar 19$8+29.0%136d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 32.3% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot16912162227K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BTDR 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

spot16.5911.51622262262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1611152025526%121%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 133.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 5169121622+$165K−$165K
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
1.00-0.0010.00290.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0020.00980.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0130.02740.00-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0140.06900.00-0.01-0.09
0.80-0.0150.14300.00-0.02-0.20
0.71-0.025.50.18120.01-0.02-0.30
0.60-0.0260.20690.01-0.02-0.40
0.50-0.026.50.21470.01-0.02-0.51
0.41-0.0270.20660.01-0.02-0.60
0.32-0.027.50.18880.01-0.02-0.68
0.26-0.0280.16670.00-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.018.50.14420.00-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.0190.12320.00-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.019.50.10460.00-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot16912152027K0
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

spot1610.515212940K40K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 247K call contracts, 175K 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: BTDR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk