Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 27, 4:59 AM ET

CYPH max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.14
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$2.5-39.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.28±30.8% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.257K puts / 28K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30164.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$77Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1

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 2$2.5-39.7%5d
Fri, Oct 9$3.5-15.6%12d
Fri, Oct 16$2.5-39.7%19d
Fri, Oct 23$4-3.5%26d
Fri, Oct 30$2-51.7%33d
Fri, Nov 6$4-3.5%40d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-39.7%54d
Fri, Dec 18$1.5-63.8%82d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.5123568$8M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2.50.51.52.53.54.55.518K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CYPH 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

spot2.50.51.52.53.54.55.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot124568338%126%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 164.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 10.51.52.53.54.55.5+$71K−$71K
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
1.00-0.000.50.00330.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0010.01040.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.001.50.02430.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0120.04920.00-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.012.50.09080.00-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.0130.15010.00-0.01-0.16
0.73-0.013.50.21170.00-0.01-0.27
0.60-0.0140.24940.00-0.01-0.39
0.48-0.014.50.25410.00-0.01-0.51
0.38-0.0150.23660.00-0.01-0.61
0.30-0.015.50.20980.00-0.01-0.69
0.13-0.017.50.11350.00-0.01-0.87

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

spot0.523.556.518K0
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

spot0.523.556.538K38K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 99K call contracts, 31K 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: CYPH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk