Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 6:20 AM ET

KAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$266.3
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$290+8.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.3±4.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.081 puts / 12 calls
Call wall$340largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$290+8.9%5d
Fri, Oct 16$290+8.9%33d
Fri, Jan 15$320+20.2%124d
Fri, Apr 16$250-6.1%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290290306322338354370$1M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot29029033034037099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KAI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot29029033034037011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot330340370+$1K$1K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.13-0.292900.01100.08-0.29-0.87
0.04-0.183300.00280.03-0.18-0.96
0.03-0.163400.00220.03-0.16-0.97
0.02-0.123700.00120.02-0.13-0.98

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

spot150230290330370460520
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

spot1501852403103804505252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 125 call contracts, 72 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: KAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk