Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 11:38 PM ET

LRCX max pain

Spot (delayed)$288.18
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$275-4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$46.38±16.1% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI2.226K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3055.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$633Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $300

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$275-4.6%6d
Fri, Oct 2$285-1.1%13d
Fri, Oct 9$290+0.6%20d
Fri, Oct 16$300+4.1%27d
Fri, Oct 23$280-2.8%34d
Fri, Oct 30$275-4.6%41d
Fri, Nov 20$310+7.6%62d
Fri, Dec 18$190-34.1%90d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot275170228286344402460$39M$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 — 275 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot2751702252703153654155K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LRCX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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 30

spot275170225270315365415153153
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot17022828634440246091%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 300170225270315365415+$585K$585K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.77-0.212550.00530.30-0.21-0.24
0.73-0.232600.00560.32-0.23-0.27
0.70-0.242650.00590.34-0.24-0.30
0.67-0.252700.00620.35-0.25-0.33
0.64-0.262750.00650.37-0.26-0.36
0.60-0.272800.00660.38-0.27-0.40
0.57-0.272850.00680.38-0.27-0.43
0.54-0.272900.00690.39-0.28-0.47
0.50-0.282950.00690.39-0.28-0.50
0.47-0.273000.00690.39-0.28-0.54
0.44-0.273050.00680.39-0.28-0.57
0.41-0.273100.00670.38-0.27-0.60
0.38-0.263150.00650.37-0.27-0.63
0.35-0.253200.00640.36-0.26-0.66
0.32-0.253250.00610.35-0.25-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1652552853153654204K0
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

spot4510015023534048023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 223K call contracts, 265K 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: LRCX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk