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

LOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$195.76
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$210+7.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.8±5.5% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI2.0317K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$195largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$11.8Mper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 18usually after the close

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, 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

spot210135192249306363420$162M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot210135170187.52052303007K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOW 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

spot210135170187.52052303006K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot135174213252291330103%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot135170187.5205230300+$7.6M$7.6M
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
0.92-0.04177.50.01050.08-0.05-0.08
0.89-0.051800.01330.10-0.06-0.11
0.85-0.07182.50.01640.12-0.07-0.15
0.81-0.081850.01960.14-0.08-0.20
0.75-0.09187.50.02280.16-0.09-0.25
0.69-0.101900.02560.18-0.10-0.31
0.62-0.11192.50.02780.19-0.11-0.38
0.55-0.111950.02920.20-0.11-0.45
0.48-0.11197.50.02950.20-0.11-0.53
0.41-0.112000.02880.20-0.11-0.60
0.34-0.10202.50.02710.18-0.10-0.67
0.28-0.092050.02480.17-0.10-0.73
0.22-0.08207.50.02200.15-0.09-0.79
0.17-0.072100.01900.13-0.07-0.84
0.14-0.06212.50.01590.11-0.06-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 42 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