Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET

HSBC max pain

Spot (delayed)$89.37
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$84
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 30 strikes carrying 16,281 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.85
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 3.85 USD, 4.3% of 89.37 spot.
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±4.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.34
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
How4,115 put contracts / 12,166 call contracts = 0.34 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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4K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$90
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
How90.00 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$90
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
How90.00 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
IV3025.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.2M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 10:30 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 ≈ $84

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$87-2.7%1d
Fri, Nov 13$91+1.8%8d
Fri, Nov 20$84-6.0%15d
Fri, Nov 27$90+0.7%22d
Fri, Dec 4too thin29d
Fri, Dec 11too thin36d
Fri, Dec 18$95+6.3%43d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides71d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides134d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8455677991103115$31M$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 — 84 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8455828792981045K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HSBC 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

spot847083879196105155155
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6575859510511598%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 845582879298104+$2.2M−$2.2M
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
0.94-0.05820.03900.02-0.03-0.11
0.90-0.07830.05100.03-0.04-0.13
0.86-0.07840.06030.04-0.04-0.17
0.81-0.06850.06550.05-0.05-0.21
0.74-0.06860.06940.06-0.05-0.26
0.68-0.06870.07370.07-0.06-0.33
0.60-0.06880.07890.07-0.06-0.40
0.52-0.06890.08290.07-0.06-0.48
0.44-0.06900.08320.07-0.06-0.57
0.36-0.06910.07930.07-0.06-0.65
0.28-0.05920.07200.06-0.05-0.73
0.17-0.04940.05260.05-0.04-0.84
0.13-0.03950.04310.04-0.03-0.89
0.10-0.03960.03470.03-0.03-0.92
0.07-0.02970.02760.03-0.02-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot758792971021075K0
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

spot235582941061309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 47K call contracts, 57K 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: HSBC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk