Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 9:57 AM ET

AZO max pain

Spot (delayed)$2,893
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$3,100+7.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$744±25.7% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI0.69389 puts / 567 calls
Call wall$4,600largest call OI
Put wall$1,460largest put OI
IV3031.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$796Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4,200

Event risk before this expiration: 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$2,880-0.5%2d
Fri, Nov 20$2,850-1.5%37d
Fri, Dec 18$3,500+21.0%65d
Fri, Jan 15$3,200+10.6%93d
Fri, Mar 19$3,200+10.6%156d
Thu, Jun 17$3,100+7.1%246d
Fri, Sep 17$3,100+7.1%338d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3100146020982736337440124650$21M$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 — 3100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot3100146021002800325037004250178178
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AZO 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

spot3100146021002800325037004250101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot14602098273633744012465045%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spotflip 4200150023602900335038504350+$224K−$224K
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
0.81-0.3024000.00037.75-0.41-0.20
0.79-0.3224400.00038.04-0.42-0.22
0.79-0.3324600.00038.18-0.43-0.23
0.77-0.3425000.00038.47-0.44-0.24
0.68-0.4327500.000410.01-0.51-0.34
0.66-0.4428000.000410.25-0.53-0.36
0.64-0.4628500.000410.46-0.54-0.39
0.62-0.4729000.000410.65-0.54-0.41
0.60-0.4729500.000410.80-0.55-0.43
0.58-0.4830000.000410.93-0.56-0.45
0.56-0.4930500.000411.03-0.56-0.48
0.54-0.4931000.000411.10-0.56-0.50
0.52-0.5031500.000411.14-0.57-0.53
0.50-0.5032000.000411.15-0.57-0.55
0.48-0.5032500.000411.13-0.57-0.57

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1460266028703020349042002760
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

spot146024802870305037004650910910
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 10K 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: AZO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk