Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:39 AM ET

CINF max pain

Spot (delayed)$169
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$170+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.93±4.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.1628 puts / 178 calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$155largest put OI
IV3018.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$98Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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, Oct 16$170+0.6%26d
Fri, Nov 20$175+3.6%61d
Fri, Dec 18$155-8.3%89d
Fri, Mar 19$155-8.3%180d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot170145158171184197210$1M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1701451551651751852105757
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CINF open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot170145155165175185210623623
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot14515817118419721046%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 18.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 170145155165175185210+$69K$69K
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.021450.00470.02-0.02-0.04
0.96-0.031500.00970.04-0.03-0.06
0.92-0.041550.01820.07-0.04-0.10
0.83-0.051600.03000.12-0.05-0.18
0.67-0.061650.04230.17-0.06-0.34
0.45-0.061700.04790.18-0.06-0.57
0.24-0.051750.03660.15-0.05-0.78
0.13-0.041800.02240.10-0.04-0.90
0.07-0.031850.01330.07-0.02-0.95
0.04-0.021900.00810.05-0.01-0.98
0.01-0.012100.00170.01-0.00-1.00

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

spot1001351551751952407580
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

spot95120145170195240809809
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 1K 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: CINF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk