Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 11, 10:29 PM ET

APH max pain

Spot (delayed)$87.24
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$82.5-5.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.55±33.9% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI0.29998 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$77.5largest put OI
IV3041.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$214Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$80-8.3%4d
Fri, Nov 20$80-8.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$72.5-16.9%67d
Fri, Jan 15$67.5-22.6%95d
Fri, Mar 19$77.5-11.2%158d
Fri, Apr 16$80-8.3%186d
Thu, Jun 17$80-8.3%248d
Fri, Sep 17$82.5-5.4%340d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot82.540587694112130$11M$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 — 82.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot82.5405570851001303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)APH open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 17.

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, Sep 17

spot82.540557085100130139139
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot4058769411213052%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spotflip 10040557085100130+$214K−$214K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.01700.00750.24-0.02-0.22
0.77-0.0172.50.00800.26-0.02-0.24
0.74-0.02750.00840.27-0.02-0.27
0.72-0.0277.50.00890.28-0.02-0.29
0.69-0.02800.00930.29-0.02-0.32
0.67-0.0282.50.00960.30-0.02-0.34
0.64-0.02850.00990.31-0.02-0.37
0.62-0.0287.50.01020.32-0.02-0.40
0.59-0.02900.01040.33-0.02-0.42
0.57-0.0292.50.01050.33-0.02-0.45
0.54-0.02950.01060.33-0.02-0.48
0.52-0.0297.50.01070.34-0.02-0.51
0.49-0.021000.01070.34-0.02-0.53
0.45-0.021050.01070.33-0.02-0.58
0.41-0.021100.01050.33-0.02-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot32.547.562.577.592.511519K0
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

spot17.53552.57087.511054K54K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 192K 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: APH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk