Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET

MLI max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.79
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.7
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 2.70 USD, 4.9% of 54.79 spot.
Open the source document →
±4.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.48
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
How584 put contracts / 1,210 call contracts = 0.48 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
584 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$70
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
How70.00 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest call OI
Put wall$60
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
How60.00 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
largest put OI
IV3031.4%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$17K
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 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.
Open the source document →
per 1% move · flip ≈ $55

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.1% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

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 20one strike decides11d
Fri, Dec 18$57.5+4.9%39d
Fri, Jan 15too thin67d
Fri, Mar 19$55+0.4%130d
Fri, May 21too thin193d
Thu, Jun 17one strike decides220d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.1% 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

spot50607080562562
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MLI 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

spot505560655K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot505560657075105%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 5550607080+$34K−$34K
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
0.91-0.03500.04150.02-0.03-0.09
0.50-0.06550.12800.04-0.06-0.51
0.10-0.03600.04800.02-0.03-0.92
0.02-0.01650.01230.01-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.00700.00380.00-0.01-1.00
0.00-0.00750.00140.00-0.01-1.00
0.00-0.00800.00060.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3550607080908210
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

spot304557.57082.595980980
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: MLI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk