Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 12:26 AM ET

CR max pain

Spot (delayed)$201.82
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$210+4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.32±3.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI3.31908 puts / 274 calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$210largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$916Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$210+4.1%6d
Fri, Oct 16$200-0.9%34d
Fri, Nov 20$170-15.8%69d
Fri, Dec 18$195-3.4%97d
Fri, Mar 19$140-30.6%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210110146182218254290$9M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot210110135160185220270853853
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot21011013516018522027011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot140164188212236260127%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 180110135165195240290+$1.0M$1.0M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.081650.00270.02-0.08-0.03
0.97-0.091700.00380.02-0.09-0.03
0.96-0.111750.00550.03-0.11-0.05
0.94-0.131800.00810.04-0.13-0.06
0.91-0.161850.01230.05-0.16-0.10
0.85-0.191900.01920.06-0.19-0.15
0.76-0.231950.03060.09-0.23-0.24
0.60-0.242000.04520.11-0.24-0.41
0.18-0.162100.03100.07-0.16-0.82
0.06-0.082200.01050.03-0.08-0.94
0.02-0.052300.00430.02-0.05-0.97
0.01-0.032400.00210.01-0.03-0.99
0.01-0.022500.00120.01-0.02-0.99
0.01-0.012600.00070.00-0.01-0.99
0.00-0.012700.00050.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051601852202703201310
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

spot100130160190240300882882
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: CR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk