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

ALL max pain

Spot (delayed)$253.71
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$185-27.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$42.65±16.8% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI58.0058 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$185largest put OI
IV3022.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8Kper 1% move

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

spot185165180195210225240$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 — 185 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1851651801852405050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALL open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot18516518018524011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot16518019521022524033%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot165180185240+$7K$7K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.011650.00110.15-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.011800.00190.23-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.011850.00220.27-0.02-0.07
0.67-0.042400.00670.70-0.04-0.34

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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