Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET

XLF max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.98
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Mon, Nov 9$56
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-09 expiration, over 12 strikes carrying 6,120 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-1.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-09 expiration = 1.55 USD, 2.7% of 56.98 spot.
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±2.7% by Mon, Nov 9
Put/Call OI2.57
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
How4,405 put contracts / 1,715 call contracts = 2.57 for the 2026-11-09 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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4K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
How55.00 for the 2026-11-09 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$54
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
How54.00 for the 2026-11-09 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3017.7%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$135K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 3, 9:57 AM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-09 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 ≈ $51

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
Wed, Nov 4$57+0.0%1d
Fri, Nov 6$55.5-2.6%3d
Mon, Nov 9$56-1.7%6d
Wed, Nov 11$57+0.0%8d
Fri, Nov 13$55.5-2.6%10d
Mon, Nov 16$64+12.3%13d
Fri, Nov 20$56-1.7%17d
Fri, Dec 18$54-5.2%45d
Thu, Dec 31$55-3.5%58d
Fri, Jan 15$55-3.5%73d
Fri, Mar 19$55-3.5%136d
Wed, Mar 31$58+1.8%148d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot56444750545760$4M$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 — 56 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Mon, Nov 9

spot564451535557591K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLF open contracts per strike for Mon, Nov 9.

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 · Mon, Nov 9

Implied volatility by strike · Mon, Nov 9

spot50525456586087%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Mon, Nov 9

spotflip 51445153555759+$312K−$312K
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 · Mon, Nov 9

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01500.01480.00-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.02510.01980.01-0.02-0.03
0.96-0.02520.02750.01-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.02530.04080.01-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.03540.06600.01-0.03-0.08
0.85-0.04550.11370.02-0.04-0.14
0.72-0.05560.18350.03-0.05-0.28
0.52-0.06570.23460.03-0.06-0.48
0.29-0.05580.20420.03-0.05-0.71
0.15-0.03590.12810.02-0.03-0.86
0.08-0.02600.07360.01-0.02-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot40485255.559645K0
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

spot203648546069518K518K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.3M call contracts, 3.8M 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: XLF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk