Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 3:06 AM ET

LAZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$43+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.25±10.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.99283 puts / 142 calls
Call wall$47largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3043.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$21Kper 1% move

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$45+9.5%6d
Fri, Oct 16$43+4.6%34d
Fri, Nov 20$45+9.5%69d
Fri, Dec 18$44+7.1%97d
Fri, Mar 19$39-5.1%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot43363942444750$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 — 43 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot43363941434850211211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAZ 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

spot4336394143485022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot36394244475070%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot363941434850+$25K$25K
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
0.85-0.02360.03790.03-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02370.04520.04-0.03-0.20
0.71-0.03390.06060.04-0.03-0.31
0.64-0.03400.06730.05-0.03-0.37
0.57-0.03410.07210.05-0.03-0.45
0.50-0.03420.07430.05-0.03-0.52
0.43-0.03430.07360.05-0.03-0.60
0.20-0.02470.05120.04-0.03-0.84
0.17-0.02480.04450.03-0.02-0.89
0.14-0.02490.03830.03-0.02-0.92
0.11-0.02500.03280.03-0.02-0.94

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

spot35475065802K0
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

spot2037424760852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 3K 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: LAZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk