Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 2:58 AM ET

COHU max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$25-59.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.7±28.8% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.12288 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3073.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$78Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 28usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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$50-18.7%24d
Fri, Nov 20$55-10.6%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Oct 28)
Fri, Dec 18$25-59.3%87d
Fri, Feb 19$40-35.0%150d
Fri, May 21$45-26.8%241d
Fri, Dec 17$35-43.1%451d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25525456585105$14M$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, Dec 18

spot25517.530507090968968
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COHU open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot25517.5305070902020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot827476686105270%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 75.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 15517.530507090+$32K$32K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01250.00210.02-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01300.00330.03-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.02350.00520.04-0.02-0.07
0.88-0.02400.00760.06-0.03-0.11
0.83-0.03450.01040.07-0.03-0.17
0.76-0.04500.01320.09-0.04-0.24
0.67-0.04550.01540.11-0.05-0.32
0.59-0.05600.01670.12-0.05-0.41
0.51-0.05650.01710.12-0.05-0.49
0.43-0.05700.01680.12-0.05-0.57
0.36-0.05750.01590.11-0.05-0.63
0.31-0.05800.01480.10-0.04-0.69
0.26-0.04850.01340.10-0.04-0.74
0.22-0.04900.01210.09-0.04-0.79
0.18-0.04950.01080.08-0.03-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot520355575952K0
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

spot2.5153055801052K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: COHU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk