Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET

VALE max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.49
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 6Not shownone strike decides it
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.46
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-06 expiration = 0.46 USD, 4.0% of 11.49 spot.
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±4.0% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.63
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
How5,529 put contracts / 8,728 call contracts = 0.63 for the 2026-11-06 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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6K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$11.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
How11.50 for the 2026-11-06 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$11.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
How11.50 for the 2026-11-06 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3036.5%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$105K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 2, 9:01 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-06 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 ≈ $9

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 8.7% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 6one strike decides3d
Fri, Nov 13$12.5+8.8%10d
Fri, Nov 20$14+21.9%17d
Fri, Nov 27one strike decides24d
Fri, Dec 4$11.5+0.1%31d
Fri, Dec 11too thin38d
Fri, Dec 18$14+21.9%45d
Fri, Jan 15one strike decides73d
Fri, Mar 19one strike decides136d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Max pain is not shown: without its single heaviest strike it moves 8.7% of spot, more than the 5% we allow, so one strike decides it. Walls and gamma still print.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot59.511.513.515.519.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VALE open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot51012141719.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot81012131517184%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 959.511.513.515.5+$195K−$195K
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.006.50.00310.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0080.01070.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0090.02870.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.019.50.05160.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01100.10300.00-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.0110.50.24000.00-0.01-0.09
0.74-0.03110.54960.00-0.03-0.27
0.41-0.0311.50.68910.01-0.03-0.59
0.13-0.01120.38900.00-0.01-0.88
0.03-0.0012.50.12540.00-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.00130.06410.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.0013.50.04020.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00140.02750.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.0014.50.02000.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00150.01520.00-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot191215182587K0
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

spot17.511.515.519.527210K210K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 886K call contracts, 856K 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: VALE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk