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

COHU max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.5
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$35-43.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.2±62.1% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.3656 puts / 156 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3073.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50
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

spot35303948576675$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot3530405060706060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COHU open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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 17

spot35304050607033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot30394857667582%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 74.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 503040506070+$2K$2K
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 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.01300.00320.12-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01350.00400.14-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01400.00480.17-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01450.00550.19-0.01-0.20
0.76-0.01500.00610.21-0.02-0.24
0.72-0.02550.00660.22-0.02-0.28
0.69-0.02600.00690.24-0.02-0.32
0.65-0.02650.00720.25-0.02-0.36
0.62-0.02700.00740.25-0.02-0.39
0.59-0.02750.00750.26-0.02-0.42

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

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