Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 12:39 AM ET

ADBE max pain

Spot (delayed)$249.26
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$260+4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.35±11.0% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI0.60948 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$265largest put OI
IV3038.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$387Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $260

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$255+2.3%6d
Fri, Oct 2$270+8.3%13d
Fri, Oct 9$280+12.3%20d
Fri, Oct 16$250+0.3%27d
Fri, Oct 23$255+2.3%34d
Fri, Oct 30$260+4.3%41d
Fri, Nov 20$260+4.3%62d
Fri, Dec 18$240-3.7%90d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260180214248282316350$12M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot260180215245275305335532532
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ADBE open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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, Oct 30

spot2601802152452753053354545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot18021424828231635067%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 260180215245275305335+$371K$371K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.082150.00590.17-0.08-0.12
0.84-0.102200.00710.20-0.10-0.16
0.80-0.112250.00820.24-0.11-0.20
0.76-0.132300.00930.27-0.13-0.25
0.70-0.142350.01030.29-0.14-0.30
0.65-0.152400.01110.31-0.15-0.36
0.59-0.152450.01160.33-0.16-0.42
0.53-0.162500.01190.34-0.16-0.48
0.47-0.162550.01190.34-0.16-0.54
0.41-0.152600.01170.33-0.16-0.59
0.36-0.152650.01120.32-0.15-0.65
0.31-0.142700.01060.30-0.14-0.70
0.26-0.132750.00980.28-0.13-0.75
0.22-0.122800.00890.25-0.12-0.79
0.19-0.112850.00800.23-0.11-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot145215242.5265287.53302K0
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

spot10018525532544058028K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 368K call contracts, 240K 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: ADBE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk