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

AMZN max pain

Spot (delayed)$256.7
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$250-2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.78±3.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.64300K puts / 465K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3029.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$150.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $257.5
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 29usually after the close

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Sep 14$255-0.7%3d
Wed, Sep 16$255-0.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$250-2.6%7d
Mon, Sep 21$255-0.7%10d
Wed, Sep 23$252.5-1.6%12d
Fri, Sep 25$255-0.7%14d
Fri, Oct 2$255-0.7%21d
Fri, Oct 9$250-2.6%28d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot250105160215270325380$4.4B$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 — 250 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot25010517522525528032541K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMZN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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

spot105195235255275305+4K4K
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: 280 4K · 265 +3K · 257.5 +2K · 247.5 +2K

Volume by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot25010517522525528032514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot170212254296338380101%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 257.5165205240260280315+$44.4M$44.4M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.092400.01040.04-0.09-0.06
0.92-0.11242.50.01400.06-0.12-0.08
0.88-0.152450.01880.07-0.15-0.12
0.83-0.18247.50.02450.09-0.18-0.17
0.77-0.222500.03060.11-0.22-0.24
0.68-0.26252.50.03610.13-0.26-0.32
0.59-0.282550.03990.14-0.28-0.42
0.49-0.28257.50.04110.14-0.29-0.52
0.39-0.272600.03940.14-0.28-0.62
0.30-0.24262.50.03530.12-0.25-0.71
0.22-0.212650.02980.11-0.21-0.79
0.16-0.17267.50.02400.09-0.17-0.85
0.11-0.132700.01850.07-0.13-0.90
0.08-0.10272.50.01380.05-0.10-0.93
0.05-0.072750.01000.04-0.07-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot105175225252.5277.532043K0
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

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-08282.55227.40
— 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

spot85150215250282.5340209K209K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.7M call contracts, 1.9M 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: AMZN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk