Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET

YCS max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.7
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe delayed quote, underlying price
Fieldcurrent_price
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
HowAbout 15 minutes delayed.
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Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceMax pain from Cboe open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
HowThe settle strike with the smallest total payout to option holders for the 2026-11-20 expiration, over 23 strikes carrying 402 open contracts. Open interest is published once a day, before the open, so it describes the previous session.
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+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.6
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceAt-the-money straddle midpoint
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
HowCall midpoint plus put midpoint at the strike nearest spot for the 2026-11-20 expiration = 2.60 USD, 4.8% of 54.70 spot.
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±4.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.19
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourcePut open interest divided by call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
How276 put contracts / 126 call contracts = 2.19 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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276 puts / 126 calls
Call wall$59
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most call open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
How59.00 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$55
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceStrike with the most put open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
How55.00 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
IV3025.8%
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EVIDENCE — filed/published fact
SourceCboe 30-day implied volatility for the underlying
Fieldiv30
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 PM ET
HowAs Cboe publishes it; not computed by us.
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30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$62K
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INFERENCE — derived by arithmetic
SourceNet gamma exposure from Cboe greeks and open interest
As ofCboe delayed snapshot Nov 9, 7:43 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 20$55+0.5%10d
Fri, Feb 19too thin101d
Fri, May 21too thin192d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55304050607080$1M$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 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot55304552566070138138
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)YCS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot404856647280186%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot304552566070+$70K−$70K
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
0.96-0.02450.01300.01-0.02-0.04
0.95-0.02460.01620.01-0.02-0.04
0.90-0.03500.04500.02-0.03-0.10
0.86-0.04510.06080.02-0.04-0.14
0.81-0.04520.08390.03-0.04-0.18
0.74-0.04530.11680.03-0.04-0.26
0.62-0.04540.15670.04-0.04-0.38
0.45-0.04550.17720.04-0.04-0.55
0.29-0.04560.15040.03-0.04-0.71
0.19-0.03570.10830.03-0.03-0.81
0.13-0.03580.07600.02-0.03-0.87
0.09-0.02590.05450.02-0.02-0.91
0.07-0.02600.04020.01-0.02-0.93
0.06-0.02610.03050.01-0.02-0.95
0.04-0.02620.02370.01-0.01-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305357616585390
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

spot304550556065141141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 187 call contracts, 291 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: YCS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk