Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET

QGEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$50.55
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.65
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 0.65 USD, 1.3% of 50.55 spot.
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±1.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.54
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET
How5,554 put contracts / 10,239 call contracts = 0.54 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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6K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$50
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET
How50.00 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$45
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 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
IV307.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.7M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:48 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.
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per 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.9% 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 18one strike decides39d
Fri, Feb 19$45-11.0%102d
Fri, May 21one strike decides193d
Fri, Dec 17one strike decides403d
Fri, Jan 21$22.5-55.5%438d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 9.9% 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

spot22.5304047.552.5607K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QGEN 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

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 50304047.552.560+$4.6M−$4.6M
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
1.00not quoted22.5not quotednot quotednot quotednot quoted
1.00not quoted25not quotednot quotednot quotednot quoted
1.00not quoted300.0001not quoted0.000.00
1.00not quoted350.00020.000.000.00
1.00not quoted400.00110.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00450.00860.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0047.50.03720.01-0.00-0.03
0.77-0.01500.35410.03-0.01-0.23
0.06-0.0152.50.09980.01-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.00550.01720.00-0.01-1.00
0.00-0.00600.00230.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot17.5254052.5658015K0
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

spot17.53045557017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 31K call contracts, 13K 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: QGEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk