Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 20, 1:45 AM ET

CPA max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.73
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$125-5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.95±7.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.3180 puts / 255 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3033.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$86Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$125-5.1%27d
Fri, Nov 20$135+2.5%62d
Fri, Dec 18$125-5.1%90d
Fri, Jan 15$110-16.5%118d
Fri, Feb 19$120-8.9%153d
Fri, May 21$80-39.3%244d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot125100110120130140150$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot125100115125135145129129
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CPA 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

spot12510011512513514522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot10011012013014015060%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 135100115125135145+$63K$63K
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
0.98-0.021000.00290.02-0.02-0.02
0.94-0.031100.00760.04-0.03-0.06
0.90-0.051150.01210.07-0.05-0.10
0.82-0.061200.01840.09-0.06-0.17
0.72-0.081250.02560.12-0.08-0.28
0.58-0.091300.03150.14-0.09-0.42
0.41-0.081350.03270.14-0.08-0.58
0.26-0.071400.02800.12-0.07-0.74
0.15-0.051450.02000.09-0.05-0.85
0.07-0.031500.01230.05-0.03-0.93

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

spot901151351551752002830
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

spot5585115145175210956956
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 4K 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: CPA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk