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 · Fri, Nov 13$55.5
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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 2026-11-13 expiration, over 34 strikes carrying 32,924 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.77
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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 2026-11-13 expiration = 1.77 USD, 3.1% of 56.98 spot.
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±3.1% by Fri, Nov 13
Put/Call OI1.55
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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
How20,017 put contracts / 12,907 call contracts = 1.55 for the 2026-11-13 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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20K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$60
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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
How60.00 for the 2026-11-13 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$52
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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
How52.00 for the 2026-11-13 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+$677K
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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 2026-11-13 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 ≈ $60

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.

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

spot55.5404549545863$25M$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 — 55.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot55.54049525558615K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLF open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 13.

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 13

spot55.552.55557.558.5619898
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spot46495356606390%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 13

spotflip 60404952555861+$1.3M−$1.3M
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 13

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.0253.50.05640.01-0.02-0.08
0.90-0.02540.07130.02-0.02-0.11
0.86-0.0354.50.08990.02-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.03550.11220.03-0.03-0.18
0.77-0.0355.50.13700.03-0.03-0.24
0.70-0.04560.16180.03-0.04-0.31
0.61-0.0456.50.18230.04-0.04-0.39
0.52-0.04570.19310.04-0.04-0.49
0.42-0.0457.50.19030.04-0.04-0.58
0.33-0.04580.17530.04-0.04-0.67
0.26-0.0358.50.15290.03-0.03-0.75
0.19-0.03590.12760.03-0.03-0.82
0.14-0.0259.50.10300.02-0.03-0.87
0.11-0.02600.08120.02-0.02-0.91
0.08-0.0260.50.06320.01-0.02-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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