Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET

XLI max pain

Spot (delayed)$168.73
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$175
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 92 strikes carrying 183,121 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 4.93 USD, 2.9% of 168.73 spot.
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±2.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.46
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How108,607 put contracts / 74,514 call contracts = 1.46 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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109K puts / 75K calls
Call wall$195
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How195.00 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$170
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
How170.00 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
IV3020.9%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$90.6M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:33 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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 13$167-1.0%3d
Fri, Nov 20$175+3.7%10d
Fri, Nov 27$170+0.8%17d
Fri, Dec 4$172+1.9%24d
Fri, Dec 11$165-2.2%31d
Fri, Dec 18$170+0.8%38d
Fri, Jan 15$165-2.2%66d
Fri, Mar 19$167-1.0%129d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175145158171184197210$230M$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot17514515816517117818636K36K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLI open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20. Showing the 42 largest of 92 strikes by open interest, 97.7% 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

spot175136148156163169177509509
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot14515716918119320573%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot145158165171178186+$62.7M−$62.7M
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
0.81-0.091630.03990.08-0.09-0.19
0.77-0.101640.04560.09-0.10-0.23
0.73-0.111650.05140.09-0.11-0.27
0.68-0.111660.05700.10-0.11-0.32
0.62-0.121670.06180.11-0.12-0.38
0.59-0.12167.50.06370.11-0.12-0.41
0.56-0.121680.06520.11-0.12-0.44
0.49-0.121690.06680.11-0.12-0.51
0.42-0.121700.06630.11-0.12-0.58
0.36-0.111710.06360.10-0.11-0.64
0.30-0.101720.05910.10-0.10-0.70
0.27-0.10172.50.05630.09-0.10-0.73
0.24-0.091730.05320.09-0.09-0.76
0.16-0.071750.04010.07-0.07-0.84
0.12-0.061760.03380.06-0.06-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot145159166172.517918612K0
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

spot7014515716717518694K94K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 227K call contracts, 365K 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: XLI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk