Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET

NYT max pain

Spot (delayed)$72.17
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
Open the source document →
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$67.5
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 13 strikes carrying 33,469 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
Open the source document →
-6.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.75
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 3.75 USD, 5.2% of 72.17 spot.
Open the source document →
±5.2% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.17
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
How18,012 put contracts / 15,457 call contracts = 1.17 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 →
18K puts / 15K calls
Call wall$72.5
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
How72.50 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$62.5
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
How62.50 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
IV3029.7%
⊙
EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
Open the source document →
30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.7M
⊙
INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 6:48 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 ≈ $72.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$67.5-6.5%10d
Fri, Dec 18$67.5-6.5%38d
Fri, Jan 15$67.5-6.5%66d
Fri, Apr 16one strike decides157d
Fri, Jan 21too thin437d
Fri, Jan 19too thin801d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot67.5505866748290$29M$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 — 67.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot67.5506067.575906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NYT 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

spot67.56062.56567.57072.5187187
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot556269768390143%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 72.5506067.57590+$2.6M−$2.6M
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
1.00-0.00550.00060.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.0057.50.00030.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00600.00310.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0162.50.00910.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.02650.02080.01-0.02-0.04
0.89-0.0367.50.04740.02-0.03-0.11
0.73-0.06700.08790.04-0.06-0.27
0.48-0.0772.50.10580.05-0.07-0.52
0.25-0.06750.08020.04-0.06-0.75
0.12-0.0477.50.04710.03-0.04-0.88
0.06-0.02800.02540.01-0.02-0.94
0.01-0.00900.00250.00-0.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305567.580951205K0
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

spot305567.580951209K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 23K 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: NYT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk