Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 3:44 AM ET

F max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.96
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$14+0.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.15±8.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.3938K puts / 28K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$14largest put OI
IV3031.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$565Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10
Earnings · expectedThu, Oct 22usually after the close

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$14+0.3%6d
Fri, Sep 25$14+0.3%13d
Fri, Oct 2$13.5-3.3%20d
Fri, Oct 9$13.5-3.3%27d
Fri, Oct 16$14+0.3%34d
Fri, Oct 23$11.5-17.6%41d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Oct 22)
Fri, Oct 30$14+0.3%48d
Fri, Nov 20$14+0.3%69d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot141612172328$47M$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 — 14 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1415913172119K19K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)F open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

Open-interest change · 2026-09-102026-09-11

spot26111417+1K1K
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot — where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Biggest moves: 18 1K · 14 +233 · 13 +187 · 15 115

Volume by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot141591317211K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot81216202428125%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 32.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 104812162028+$677K$677K
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
1.000.0070.00230.000.00-0.00
0.99-0.0080.00460.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0090.00960.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00100.02030.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00110.04420.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.00120.09700.01-0.00-0.10
0.78-0.01130.19780.01-0.01-0.23
0.53-0.01140.28670.02-0.01-0.48
0.28-0.01150.23240.01-0.01-0.74
0.14-0.01160.13730.01-0.01-0.88
0.07-0.00170.07750.01-0.00-0.95
0.04-0.00180.04540.00-0.00-0.98
0.03-0.00190.02800.00-0.00-0.99
0.02-0.00200.01810.000.00-1.00
0.01-0.00210.01220.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot18.512.516.5212955K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-0815.5713.50
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot17.6711.51519.526163K163K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 947K call contracts, 894K 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: F workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk