Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 11, 11:19 PM ET

ALL max pain

Spot (delayed)$253.71
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$230-9.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$31.7±12.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.305K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3022.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$207Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$250-1.5%6d
Fri, Oct 16$260+2.5%34d
Fri, Dec 18$230-9.3%97d
Fri, Jan 15$230-9.3%125d
Fri, Mar 19$220-13.3%188d
Fri, Apr 16$185-27.1%216d
Thu, Jun 17$240-5.4%278d
Fri, Sep 17$220-13.3%370d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23095152209266323380$53M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23095130165200270340592592
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALL open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot2309513016520027034022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot9515220926632338088%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 290115145180220280340+$140K$140K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.021900.00210.16-0.02-0.05
0.94-0.021950.00260.18-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.032000.00310.22-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.032100.00420.29-0.03-0.11
0.84-0.042200.00570.37-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.052300.00730.45-0.05-0.23
0.69-0.062400.00880.52-0.06-0.32
0.59-0.062500.00990.57-0.06-0.41
0.49-0.062600.01040.59-0.06-0.52
0.39-0.062700.01020.57-0.06-0.62
0.30-0.052800.00930.52-0.06-0.72
0.22-0.042900.00800.45-0.05-0.81
0.16-0.043000.00660.37-0.04-0.88
0.12-0.033100.00520.30-0.04-0.94
0.08-0.023200.00400.23-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1301752002503003501K0
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

spot951351752303103905K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 21K 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: ALL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk