Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET

XOM max pain

Spot (delayed)$168.98
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 6$177.5
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-06 expiration, over 48 strikes carrying 60,370 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.54
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-06 expiration = 4.54 USD, 2.7% of 168.98 spot.
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±2.7% by Fri, Nov 6
Put/Call OI0.47
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
How19,195 put contracts / 41,175 call contracts = 0.47 for the 2026-11-06 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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19K puts / 41K calls
Call wall$195
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
How195.00 for the 2026-11-06 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 4, 2:40 PM ET
How180.00 for the 2026-11-06 expiration. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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largest put OI
IV3031.1%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$10.5M
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 4, 2:40 PM ET
HowOver every strike with open interest for the 2026-11-06 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 ≈ $140

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
Fri, Nov 6$177.5+5.0%2d
Fri, Nov 13$182.5+8.0%9d
Fri, Nov 20$165-2.4%16d
Fri, Nov 27$175+3.6%23d
Fri, Dec 4$180+6.5%30d
Fri, Dec 11$180+6.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$145-14.2%44d
Fri, Jan 15$145-14.2%72d
Fri, Feb 19$180+6.5%107d
Fri, Mar 19$155-8.3%135d
Fri, Apr 16$170+0.6%163d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot177.585118151184217250$235M$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 — 177.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot177.585125152.5172.5192.5212.513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)XOM open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 6.

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 6

spot177.585120157.5170182.51952K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spot120143166189212235159%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 6

spotflip 140130150165180195210+$2.8M−$2.8M
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 6

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.04152.50.00450.01-0.04-0.01
0.98-0.061550.00740.01-0.06-0.02
0.96-0.10157.50.01270.01-0.10-0.04
0.93-0.181600.02160.02-0.18-0.07
0.86-0.30162.50.03520.03-0.31-0.14
0.76-0.471650.05190.04-0.47-0.24
0.61-0.60167.50.06610.05-0.61-0.39
0.44-0.611700.07020.05-0.62-0.56
0.28-0.47172.50.06060.04-0.48-0.73
0.15-0.281750.04220.03-0.29-0.86
0.07-0.14177.50.02480.02-0.14-0.93
0.04-0.071800.01360.01-0.07-0.97
0.02-0.04182.50.00770.01-0.04-0.98
0.01-0.031850.00470.00-0.03-0.99
0.01-0.02187.50.00310.00-0.02-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot75120155177.520022518K0
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

spot5010014817019522073K73K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 670K call contracts, 439K 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: XOM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk