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

CR max pain

Spot (delayed)$201.82
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$200-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.05±7.5% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI7.87811 puts / 103 calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3028.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$571Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, 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

spot200175186197208219230$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot200175185200220800800
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CR 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

spot20017518520022011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot17518619720821923040%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot175185200220+$609K$609K
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
0.87-0.081750.00760.13-0.08-0.12
0.84-0.081800.00970.15-0.08-0.16
0.80-0.091850.01220.17-0.09-0.20
0.66-0.101950.01860.23-0.10-0.34
0.56-0.102000.02130.25-0.10-0.43
0.35-0.102100.02060.23-0.10-0.65
0.20-0.082200.01450.18-0.08-0.80
0.13-0.062300.00960.13-0.07-0.88

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

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