Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 3:44 AM ET

AAPL max pain

Spot (delayed)$332.58
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$310-6.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.28±4.6% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.4715K puts / 31K calls
Call wall$345largest call OI
Put wall$300largest put OI
IV3023.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $330
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 29usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Sep 14$315-5.3%2d
Wed, Sep 16$320-3.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$300-9.8%6d
Mon, Sep 21$315-5.3%9d
Wed, Sep 23$315-5.3%11d
Fri, Sep 25$320-3.8%13d
Fri, Oct 2$310-6.8%20d
Fri, Oct 9$315-5.3%27d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot310110171232293354415$274M$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 — 310 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot3101102052502953403856K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AAPL open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

Open-interest change · 2026-09-102026-09-11

spot175235285325365405+765765
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot — where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Biggest moves: 300 +765 · 370 +539 · 310 +355 · 325 +339

Volume by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot3101102052502953403853K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot18022727432136841593%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 330210245280315350385+$11.8M$11.8M
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.073000.00530.10-0.07-0.06
0.91-0.083050.00720.13-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.103100.00970.17-0.10-0.13
0.82-0.123150.01260.21-0.13-0.18
0.76-0.153200.01580.25-0.15-0.24
0.67-0.173250.01860.29-0.17-0.33
0.57-0.183300.02050.31-0.18-0.43
0.47-0.183350.02100.32-0.18-0.54
0.37-0.173400.02000.30-0.17-0.64
0.28-0.153450.01780.27-0.15-0.74
0.20-0.123500.01480.23-0.13-0.82
0.14-0.103550.01160.18-0.10-0.88
0.09-0.073600.00870.14-0.08-0.93
0.06-0.053650.00620.10-0.05-0.96
0.04-0.043700.00440.07-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 52 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot140210265307.533537049K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-08339.64301.96
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot15175235295350440224K224K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.9M call contracts, 2.1M 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.

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: AAPL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk