Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 2:37 AM ET

CCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.38
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$22.5+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±3.6% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.5913K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$21.5largest put OI
IV3047.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15
Earnings · expectedMon, Sep 28usually after the close

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$22.5+0.5%2d
Fri, Oct 2$22.5+0.5%9d← 1st expiry after earnings (Mon, Sep 28)
Fri, Oct 9$22.5+0.5%16d
Fri, Oct 16$24+7.2%23d
Fri, Oct 23$23+2.8%30d
Fri, Oct 30$22-1.7%37d
Fri, Nov 20$27+20.6%58d
Fri, Dec 18$27+20.6%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5131824293540$33M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot22.51318.52225.530375K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot22.51318.52225.530374K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot182123262831184%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 151318.52225.53038+$693K$693K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00190.01520.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0119.50.02480.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01200.04320.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.0120.50.08140.00-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.03210.16020.00-0.03-0.09
0.80-0.0521.50.28210.01-0.05-0.20
0.63-0.07220.39120.01-0.07-0.37
0.43-0.0722.50.40810.01-0.07-0.58
0.25-0.05230.32160.01-0.06-0.75
0.14-0.0423.50.21040.00-0.04-0.87
0.07-0.02240.12230.00-0.02-0.94
0.04-0.0124.50.06780.00-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.01250.04020.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.0125.50.02690.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.00260.01940.00-0.01-0.99

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

spot1318.52225.529367K0
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

spot21520.525303997K97K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 438K call contracts, 499K 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: CCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk