Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET

XLV max pain

Spot (delayed)$188.88
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 27$182
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-27 expiration, over 56 strikes carrying 4,237 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.02
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-27 expiration = 6.02 USD, 3.2% of 188.88 spot.
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±3.2% by Fri, Nov 27
Put/Call OI2.67
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
How3,081 put contracts / 1,156 call contracts = 2.67 for the 2026-11-27 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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3K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$170
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
How170.00 for the 2026-11-27 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$180
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
How180.00 for the 2026-11-27 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3020.2%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$589K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 10, 7:32 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-27 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$187-1.0%2d
Fri, Nov 20$179-5.2%9d
Fri, Nov 27$182-3.6%16d
Fri, Dec 4$184-2.6%23d
Fri, Dec 11$184-2.6%30d
Fri, Dec 18$163-13.7%37d
Fri, Jan 15$152-19.5%65d
Fri, Mar 19$180-4.7%128d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot182120138156174192210$17M$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 — 182 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot182120161169177.5186197.5389389
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XLV open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 27.

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 27

spot182160172.5181186190197.53535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot14515817118419721069%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 27

spot145162169177184192.5+$309K−$309K
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 27

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.76-0.08182.50.03360.13-0.09-0.24
0.74-0.091830.03500.13-0.09-0.26
0.71-0.091840.03800.14-0.09-0.29
0.67-0.091850.04070.15-0.10-0.33
0.63-0.101860.04300.15-0.10-0.37
0.56-0.10187.50.04570.16-0.10-0.43
0.54-0.101880.04620.16-0.10-0.46
0.50-0.101890.04680.16-0.10-0.50
0.45-0.101900.04660.16-0.10-0.55
0.40-0.101910.04570.16-0.10-0.60
0.36-0.091920.04410.15-0.09-0.64
0.34-0.09192.50.04310.15-0.09-0.66
0.24-0.081950.03640.13-0.08-0.76
0.21-0.071960.03340.12-0.07-0.79
0.17-0.07197.50.02880.10-0.07-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1201611711781861946K0
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

spot7012515316718019581K81K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 260K call contracts, 575K 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: XLV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk