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

GOOGL max pain

Spot (delayed)$338.39
Max pain · Fri, Oct 9$335-1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.65±6.1% by Fri, Oct 9
Put/Call OI1.7210K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$370largest call OI
Put wall$305largest put OI
IV3028.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.6Mper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 28usually after the close

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
Mon, Sep 14$330-2.5%3d
Wed, Sep 16$335-1.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$332.5-1.7%7d
Mon, Sep 21$330-2.5%10d
Wed, Sep 23$330-2.5%12d
Fri, Sep 25$340+0.5%14d
Fri, Oct 2$335-1.0%21d
Fri, Oct 9$335-1.0%28d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot335140200260320380440$160M$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 — 335 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot3351402703003303603903K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GOOGL open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 9.

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 9

spot335140270300330360390521521
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot19024029034039044085%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 9

spot190280310340370400+$2.0M$2.0M
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, Oct 9

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.083050.00580.16-0.08-0.09
0.88-0.103100.00730.20-0.10-0.13
0.84-0.123150.00900.23-0.12-0.17
0.79-0.143200.01080.28-0.14-0.22
0.73-0.163250.01250.31-0.16-0.28
0.66-0.173300.01390.34-0.17-0.34
0.59-0.183350.01490.36-0.19-0.42
0.51-0.193400.01530.37-0.19-0.49
0.44-0.183450.01510.37-0.19-0.57
0.37-0.183500.01440.35-0.18-0.65
0.30-0.163550.01320.33-0.17-0.71
0.24-0.153600.01180.30-0.15-0.77
0.20-0.133650.01030.26-0.14-0.82
0.15-0.113700.00880.23-0.12-0.87
0.12-0.103750.00730.19-0.11-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15025031035540555563K0
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

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-08380.31325.00
— 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

spot5200275345415530161K161K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.2M call contracts, 1.4M 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: GOOGL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk