Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET

H max pain

Spot (delayed)$185.7
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$165
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 27 strikes carrying 949 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-11.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.1
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 9.10 USD, 4.9% of 185.70 spot.
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±4.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.70
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
How392 put contracts / 557 call contracts = 0.70 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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392 puts / 557 calls
Call wall$195
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
How195.00 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$135
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
How135.00 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
IV3033.8%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$280K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 8:40 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 ≈ $105

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$165-11.1%11d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides39d
Fri, Jan 15$160-13.8%67d
Fri, Feb 19one strike decides102d
Fri, May 21too thin193d
Fri, Dec 17one strike decides403d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot16585118151184217250$4M$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 — 165 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot16585115140165190230105105
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)H 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

spot1651851901952001010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120146172198224250133%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10595125150175200+$90K−$90K
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
0.97-0.041500.00270.02-0.05-0.02
0.96-0.061550.00400.03-0.06-0.03
0.95-0.071600.00600.03-0.08-0.05
0.92-0.101650.00910.05-0.10-0.08
0.88-0.131700.01380.07-0.13-0.12
0.81-0.161750.02070.09-0.16-0.19
0.70-0.191800.02900.11-0.19-0.30
0.54-0.211850.03430.13-0.21-0.46
0.37-0.201900.03220.12-0.20-0.63
0.24-0.181950.02520.10-0.18-0.76
0.16-0.152000.01830.08-0.15-0.84
0.08-0.102100.00940.05-0.10-0.92
0.04-0.072200.00520.03-0.07-0.96
0.03-0.052300.00310.02-0.05-0.97
0.01-0.032500.00130.01-0.03-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot851251601852202470
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

spot80110140170200260320320
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: H workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk