Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 10:03 AM ET

C max pain

Spot (delayed)$134.98
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$132-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.08±7.5% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI0.822K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$142largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3031.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$395Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $142
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 13usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$133-1.5%3d
Fri, Oct 2$135+0.0%10d
Fri, Oct 9$134-0.7%17d
Fri, Oct 16$135+0.0%24d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 13)
Fri, Oct 23$132-2.2%31d
Fri, Oct 30$134-0.7%38d
Fri, Nov 20$130-3.7%59d
Fri, Dec 18$105-22.2%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot132105119133147161175$7M$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 — 132 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot132105124131138145155615615
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)C open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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 23

spot132105124131138145155250250
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot10511913314716117563%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 142105124131138145155+$323K$323K
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 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.74-0.071280.02480.13-0.07-0.26
0.71-0.071290.02610.14-0.07-0.29
0.69-0.071300.02730.14-0.07-0.32
0.66-0.071310.02840.15-0.07-0.35
0.63-0.071320.02940.15-0.08-0.38
0.60-0.081330.03020.15-0.08-0.41
0.57-0.081340.03080.16-0.08-0.44
0.54-0.081350.03130.16-0.08-0.47
0.51-0.081360.03150.16-0.08-0.50
0.47-0.081370.03160.16-0.08-0.53
0.44-0.081380.03140.16-0.08-0.56
0.41-0.081390.03110.16-0.08-0.60
0.38-0.071400.03050.15-0.07-0.63
0.35-0.071410.02980.15-0.07-0.66
0.32-0.071420.02890.14-0.07-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot90123130137144152.54K0
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

spot3062.59512613915561K61K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 426K call contracts, 581K 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: C workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk