Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 11:39 PM ET

LEA max pain

Spot (delayed)$120.64
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$130+7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.4±7.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.5929 puts / 49 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3030.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$130+7.8%27d
Fri, Nov 20$120-0.5%62d
Fri, Dec 18$125+3.6%90d
Fri, Mar 19$125+3.6%181d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot130105113121129137145$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 — 130 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1301051151251351452020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LEA 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

spot13010511512513514555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot10511312112913714544%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 135105115125135145+$5K$5K
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
0.92-0.031050.01190.05-0.03-0.08
0.85-0.051100.02030.08-0.05-0.15
0.72-0.061150.03090.11-0.06-0.28
0.55-0.071200.03840.13-0.07-0.45
0.36-0.071250.03650.13-0.07-0.64
0.21-0.051300.02770.10-0.06-0.79
0.12-0.041350.01840.07-0.04-0.89
0.07-0.031400.01150.05-0.03-0.94
0.04-0.021450.00710.03-0.02-0.97

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

spot851251451651852101880
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

spot6090120150180220189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 452 call contracts, 208 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: LEA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk