Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET

MTDR max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.34
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$50
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 23 strikes carrying 10,150 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.3
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 3.30 USD, 6.6% of 50.34 spot.
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±6.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.15
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
How1,292 put contracts / 8,858 call contracts = 0.15 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 / 9K calls
Call wall$57.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
How57.50 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$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
How45.00 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
IV3040.7%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$444K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:39 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 ≈ $47.5

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$50-0.7%11d
Fri, Dec 18$55+9.3%39d
Fri, Jan 15$50-0.7%67d
Fri, Mar 19$55+9.3%130d
Thu, Jun 17$55+9.3%220d
Fri, Sep 17$50-0.7%312d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50284155688295$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5027.537.547.557.567.5802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTDR 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

spot504045505560125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot283849597080178%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 47.527.537.547.557.567.580+$180K−$180K
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
1.00-0.4232.50.00250.00-0.01-0.01
1.00-0.41350.00400.00-0.01-0.01
1.00-0.4137.50.00690.00-0.01-0.02
1.00-0.39400.01260.01-0.02-0.03
1.00-0.3442.50.02450.01-0.03-0.07
0.98-0.20450.03810.00-0.04-0.14
0.73-0.0647.50.12490.03-0.06-0.29
0.46-0.07500.10320.03-0.07-0.54
0.25-0.0652.50.07810.03-0.06-0.75
0.13-0.04550.04730.02-0.04-0.87
0.07-0.0357.50.02690.01-0.03-0.93
0.04-0.02600.01520.01-0.02-0.96
0.02-0.0162.50.00880.00-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.01650.00520.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.0067.50.00310.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2032.54557.570905K0
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

spot2032.54557.5709032K32K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 64K call contracts, 8K 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: MTDR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk