Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET

EWJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$92.8
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$98
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 39 strikes carrying 17,770 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+5.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.25
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 4.25 USD, 4.6% of 92.80 spot.
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±4.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI3.72
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
How14,008 put contracts / 3,762 call contracts = 3.72 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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14K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$99
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
How99.00 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$92
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
How92.00 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
IV3023.6%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$6.5M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 6:24 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

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$96+3.4%3d
Fri, Nov 13$94.5+1.8%10d
Fri, Nov 20$98+5.6%17d
Fri, Nov 27$94+1.3%24d
Fri, Dec 4too thin31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$94.84+2.2%45d
Fri, Jan 15$89.84-3.2%73d
Fri, Mar 19$97+4.5%136d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9870788694102110$30M$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 — 98 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot9870859194.5991065K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EWJ 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

spot9884919397103126126
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot7078869410211095%23%
— 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

spot70859194.599106+$3.5M−$3.5M
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
0.77-0.05890.05040.06-0.05-0.24
0.72-0.05900.05830.07-0.06-0.28
0.69-0.0690.50.06230.07-0.06-0.31
0.67-0.06910.06620.08-0.06-0.34
0.63-0.0691.50.06990.08-0.06-0.38
0.60-0.06920.07310.08-0.06-0.41
0.56-0.0692.50.07570.08-0.06-0.45
0.52-0.06930.07740.08-0.06-0.49
0.48-0.0693.50.07820.08-0.06-0.53
0.45-0.06940.07790.08-0.06-0.57
0.41-0.0694.50.07650.08-0.06-0.61
0.37-0.05950.07430.08-0.06-0.64
0.34-0.0595.50.07130.08-0.05-0.68
0.31-0.05960.06770.07-0.05-0.71
0.28-0.0596.50.06380.07-0.05-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot80929597.51001053K0
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

spot34.8472.848389.8494.84104.8415K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 29K call contracts, 67K 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: EWJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk