Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 4:35 AM ET

BOT max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.5
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$25-5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.73±10.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.971K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3090.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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
Fri, Sep 18$25-5.7%6d
Fri, Oct 16$30+13.2%34d
Fri, Nov 20$30+13.2%69d
Fri, Feb 19$25-5.7%160d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25182431374450$2M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2517.522.5304050592592
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BOT open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot2517.522.53040505454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot182431374450305%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 2017.522.53040+$24K$24K
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
1.000.0017.50.00040.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01200.00990.00-0.01-0.02
0.91-0.0522.50.04510.01-0.04-0.10
0.72-0.10250.08930.01-0.10-0.29
0.24-0.09300.08070.01-0.09-0.76
0.04-0.02350.02160.00-0.02-0.96
0.00-0.00400.00290.00-0.00-0.99
0.000.00450.00020.00-1.00
50-1.00

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

spot1520253545556460
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

spot1520253545551K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 4K 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: BOT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk