Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET

VUG max pain

Spot (delayed)$84.45
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$86
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 26 strikes carrying 4,962 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.25
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 3.25 USD, 3.8% of 84.45 spot.
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±3.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.29
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
How1,101 put contracts / 3,861 call contracts = 0.29 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 / 4K calls
Call wall$95
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
How95.00 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$85
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
How85.00 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
IV3022.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$92K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 9:41 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 ≈ $78

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$86+1.8%10d
Fri, Dec 18one strike decides38d
Fri, Mar 19$80-5.3%129d
Thu, Jun 17$84-0.5%219d
Fri, Jan 21one strike decides437d
Fri, Jan 19$75-11.2%801d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot867580859095100$3M$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 — 86 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot8675808590951001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)VUG 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

spot867982868992963131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot758085909510062%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 78757983879195+$121K−$121K
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
0.97-0.01770.01740.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02780.02520.02-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.03790.03570.02-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.03800.04920.03-0.03-0.11
0.83-0.04810.06560.04-0.04-0.17
0.76-0.05820.08380.04-0.05-0.23
0.68-0.06830.10130.05-0.06-0.32
0.57-0.06840.11460.06-0.06-0.43
0.45-0.06850.11950.06-0.06-0.55
0.33-0.05860.11320.05-0.05-0.67
0.22-0.04870.09590.04-0.04-0.78
0.14-0.03880.07170.03-0.03-0.86
0.07-0.02890.04700.02-0.02-0.93
0.04-0.01900.02700.01-0.01-0.96
0.02-0.01910.01370.01-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5070.8379.1785.839196.672K0
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

spot5070.8379.178691.67974K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 21K call contracts, 12K 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: VUG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk