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

GME max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 9$18.5-12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05±9.7% by Fri, Oct 9
Put/Call OI0.373K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3043.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$170Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $18.5

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$20-5.2%6d
Fri, Sep 25$19-10.0%13d
Fri, Oct 2$19.5-7.6%20d
Fri, Oct 9$18.5-12.3%27d
Fri, Oct 16$19-10.0%34d
Fri, Oct 23$18-14.7%41d
Fri, Oct 30$18.5-12.3%48d
Fri, Dec 18$22+4.3%97d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18.581319243035$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 — 18.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot18.5815.51820.523271K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GME open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 9.

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

spot1518.520.522.52630+268268
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: 35 +268 · 26 +121 · 30 +105 · 25 +103

Volume by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot18.5815.51820.523272K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot81319243035158%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spotflip 18.581618.52123.528+$41K$41K
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 9

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0117.50.04450.01-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01180.05780.01-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.0118.50.07570.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.01190.09760.01-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0119.50.12070.02-0.01-0.21
0.72-0.01200.14070.02-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.0220.50.15360.02-0.02-0.36
0.56-0.02210.15800.02-0.02-0.44
0.48-0.0221.50.15460.02-0.02-0.52
0.41-0.02220.14560.02-0.02-0.59
0.35-0.0222.50.13360.02-0.02-0.65
0.30-0.02230.12050.02-0.02-0.70
0.26-0.0223.50.10750.02-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.02240.09550.02-0.02-0.78
0.18-0.02250.07560.01-0.02-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3131924293624K0
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

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-0822.1317.93
— 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

spot313.51924.53039199K199K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.3M call contracts, 360K 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: GME workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk