Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 26, 2:56 AM ET

LU max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.23
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$2+62.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.47±38.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI2.64506 puts / 192 calls
Call wall$1largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30124.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$197per 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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$2+62.6%20d
Fri, Nov 20$1.5+22.0%55d
Fri, Dec 18$2+62.6%83d
Fri, Jan 15$2+62.6%111d
Fri, Mar 19$1-18.7%174d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2111222$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot211.52450450
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LU 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

spot211.525050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 211.52+$342−$342
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
0.79-0.0010.66590.00-0.00-0.21
0.38-0.001.50.79980.00-0.00-0.61
0.25-0.0120.50030.00-0.01-0.75

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

spot11.5241710
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

spot0.51.5354K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 6K 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: LU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk