HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 63 strikes carrying 28,913 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 PM ET
How15,324 put contracts / 13,589 call contracts = 1.13 for the 2026-11-20 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 4:25 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.
Event risk before this expiration:Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.
■ 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 — 410 — is the max pain price.
Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VLO open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20. Showing the 47 largest of 63 strikes by open interest, 98.6% of the total.
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
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).
Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.
Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20
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 Δ
Call Θ
Strike
Γ
Vega
Put Θ
Put Δ
0.93
-0.19
300
0.0025
0.10
-0.20
-0.07
0.90
-0.26
310
0.0035
0.13
-0.26
-0.10
0.86
-0.33
320
0.0046
0.17
-0.34
-0.14
0.80
-0.41
330
0.0058
0.21
-0.42
-0.20
0.74
-0.48
340
0.0069
0.25
-0.49
-0.27
0.66
-0.54
350
0.0078
0.28
-0.55
-0.34
0.58
-0.58
360
0.0083
0.30
-0.58
-0.42
0.49
-0.58
370
0.0086
0.30
-0.59
-0.51
0.41
-0.56
380
0.0084
0.30
-0.57
-0.59
0.33
-0.52
390
0.0079
0.28
-0.52
-0.67
0.29
-0.49
395
0.0075
0.26
-0.49
-0.71
0.26
-0.46
400
0.0071
0.25
-0.46
-0.74
0.23
-0.42
405
0.0066
0.23
-0.43
-0.78
0.20
-0.39
410
0.0061
0.21
-0.39
-0.81
0.15
-0.32
420
0.0051
0.18
-0.32
-0.86
Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 47 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.
Stacked — layer the expirations
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.
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.