Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 1:52 AM ET

IA max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.86
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$20+6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.85±15.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.781K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3068.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$16Kper 1% move

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 16$20+6.0%21d
Fri, Nov 20$15-20.5%56d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-7.2%112d
Fri, Apr 16$17.5-7.2%203d
Fri, Jul 16$10-47.0%294d
Fri, Oct 15$15-20.5%385d
Fri, Dec 17$10-47.0%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2051219263340$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot20512.517.522.53040610610
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IA 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

spot20512.517.522.530405656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101622283440220%62%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot512.517.522.53040+$13K−$13K
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
1.00-0.0150.00030.000.00-0.00
1.00-0.01100.00200.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0112.50.02310.00-0.01-0.04
0.88-0.01150.06160.01-0.02-0.12
0.64-0.0317.50.12260.02-0.03-0.36
0.33-0.03200.11650.02-0.03-0.66
0.15-0.0222.50.06950.01-0.02-0.84
0.07-0.01250.03760.01-0.01-0.92
0.02-0.01300.01220.00-0.00-0.97
0.01-0.00350.00480.00—-0.98
0.00-0.00400.00220.00—-0.99

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

spot2.512.517.522.530405080
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

spot2.51017.52540647647
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: IA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk