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

MSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$119.26
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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.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 11 strikes carrying 3,109 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.05
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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 = 6.05 USD, 5.1% of 119.26 spot.
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±5.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.65
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
How1,225 put contracts / 1,884 call contracts = 0.65 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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1K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$135
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 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 call OI
Put wall$120
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:44 PM ET
How120.00 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
IV3032.0%
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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.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$531K
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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.
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per 1% move

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$120+0.6%11d
Fri, Dec 18$110-7.8%39d
Fri, Mar 19$110-7.8%130d
Thu, Jun 17too thin220d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120100115130145160175$7M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot120100110120130140175986986
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSM 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

spot120110120125130991991
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10010911812713614594%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100110120130140175+$736K−$736K
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
1.00-0.691000.00830.02-0.06-0.05
1.00-0.561050.00150.03-0.07-0.09
0.95-0.311100.04200.01-0.10-0.16
0.70-0.121150.06510.07-0.12-0.31
0.41-0.121200.05780.08-0.12-0.58
0.20-0.091250.03780.06-0.09-0.80
0.10-0.071300.02080.04-0.06-0.90
0.06-0.051350.01190.02-0.04-0.94
0.04-0.041400.00720.02-0.03-0.96
0.02-0.031450.00470.01-0.02-0.97
0.00-0.011750.00070.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot851001151301451601K0
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

spot50751001251501751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: MSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk