Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET

ECL max pain

Spot (delayed)$306.74
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$300
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 14 strikes carrying 8,027 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.28
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 11.28 USD, 3.7% of 306.74 spot.
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±3.7% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.76
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
How3,457 put contracts / 4,570 call contracts = 0.76 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 / 5K calls
Call wall$330
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
How330.00 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$300
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 PM ET
How300.00 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 9, 8:56 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.1M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:56 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 ≈ $310

Event risk before this expiration: 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$300-2.2%11d
Fri, Dec 18$280-8.7%39d
Fri, Jan 15$260-15.2%67d
Fri, Apr 16$280-8.7%158d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides438d
Fri, Jan 19too thin802d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300170206242278314350$40M$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3001702502803103402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ECL 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

spot3002802903003103205050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot24026228430632835091%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 310230260290320350+$2.4M−$2.4M
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
1.00-0.002400.00040.01-0.01-0.00
0.99-0.012500.00070.01-0.02-0.01
0.99-0.022600.00140.02-0.03-0.01
0.98-0.042700.00280.03-0.05-0.02
0.95-0.082800.00600.06-0.08-0.05
0.88-0.142900.01310.11-0.14-0.12
0.71-0.213000.02520.18-0.22-0.29
0.43-0.243100.02940.21-0.25-0.58
0.20-0.193200.01930.15-0.20-0.81
0.10-0.133300.01040.10-0.14-0.92
0.05-0.093400.00570.06-0.09-0.97
0.03-0.063500.00320.04-0.06-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1502002503003504002K0
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

spot1451802303003704402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 6K 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: ECL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk