Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 7:33 PM ET

LOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$195.76
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$200+2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.33±3.7% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.75829 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 18usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$195-0.4%3d
Fri, Oct 2$200+2.2%10d
Fri, Oct 9$200+2.2%17d
Fri, Oct 16$210+7.3%24d
Fri, Oct 23$200+2.2%31d
Fri, Oct 30$195-0.4%38d
Fri, Nov 20$190-2.9%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Nov 18)
Fri, Dec 18$220+12.4%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200150178206234262290$8M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot200150177.5190202.5215240308308
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOW open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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 2

spot200150177.5190202.5215240124124
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot150171192213234255110%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 170150177.5190202.5215240+$354K$354K
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 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.04177.50.00720.03-0.04-0.04
0.95-0.051800.01000.03-0.05-0.05
0.93-0.06182.50.01410.05-0.06-0.07
0.89-0.081850.01990.06-0.09-0.11
0.83-0.11187.50.02720.08-0.11-0.17
0.76-0.141900.03440.10-0.15-0.25
0.66-0.17192.50.04010.12-0.17-0.34
0.55-0.181950.04340.13-0.18-0.45
0.45-0.18197.50.04350.13-0.18-0.56
0.34-0.172000.04050.12-0.17-0.67
0.25-0.14202.50.03500.10-0.14-0.76
0.17-0.122050.02820.08-0.12-0.84
0.12-0.09207.50.02140.07-0.09-0.90
0.08-0.072100.01570.05-0.07-0.94
0.06-0.05212.50.01150.04-0.06-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot150182.5197.5212.52352905770
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

spot100155190217.52653409K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 51K 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: LOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk