Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 8:04 PM ET

AMC max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.85
Max pain · Fri, Oct 9$2.5-12.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.49±17.2% by Fri, Oct 9
Put/Call OI0.151K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$5.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV3083.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$2.5-12.1%4d
Fri, Oct 2$2.5-12.1%11d
Fri, Oct 9$2.5-12.1%18d
Fri, Oct 16$2.5-12.1%25d
Fri, Oct 23$2.5-12.1%32d
Fri, Oct 30$2-29.7%39d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-12.1%60d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-12.1%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.5123456$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot2.50.51.52.53.54.55.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 9.

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 9

spot2.50.51.52.53.54.55.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot123456348%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spotflip 212345+$11K$11K
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 9

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.000.50.00390.00-0.00
1.000.0010.01500.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.001.50.04920.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0020.16580.00-0.00-0.06
0.79-0.002.50.53840.00-0.00-0.21
0.45-0.0130.70510.00-0.01-0.56
0.24-0.013.50.45270.00-0.01-0.77
0.14-0.0140.28590.00-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.004.50.19240.00-0.00-0.91
0.07-0.0050.13700.00-0.00-0.94
0.05-0.005.50.10190.00-0.00-0.96

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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.535K0
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

spot0.523.557110K110K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 637K call contracts, 169K 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: AMC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk