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

COHU max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.5
Max pain · Fri, Feb 19$40-35.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.5±36.6% by Fri, Feb 19
Put/Call OI0.27165 puts / 614 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3073.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35
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

spot402339567289105$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot4022.535506580100223223
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COHU open contracts per strike for Fri, Feb 19.

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, Feb 19

spot4022.53550658010011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spot2339567289105121%69%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Feb 19

spotflip 3522.535506580100+$11K$11K
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, Feb 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01250.00240.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01300.00360.05-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01350.00530.06-0.02-0.09
0.86-0.02400.00720.09-0.02-0.14
0.80-0.02450.00920.11-0.03-0.19
0.74-0.03500.01090.12-0.03-0.25
0.67-0.03550.01230.14-0.03-0.32
0.61-0.03600.01320.15-0.04-0.39
0.54-0.04650.01360.15-0.04-0.46
0.48-0.04700.01360.15-0.04-0.52
0.42-0.04750.01340.15-0.04-0.57
0.37-0.04800.01290.15-0.03-0.63
0.29-0.03900.01150.13-0.03-0.71
0.26-0.03950.01080.13-0.03-0.75
0.23-0.031000.01000.12-0.03-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 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