Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 14, 9:56 AM ET

LUV max pain

Spot (delayed)$40.65
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$42+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.28±3.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.6513K puts / 19K calls
Call wall$42.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3044.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $46

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$42+3.3%2d
Fri, Oct 23$41+0.9%9d
Fri, Oct 30$42+3.3%16d
Fri, Nov 6$40-1.6%23d
Fri, Nov 13$42+3.3%30d
Fri, Nov 20$40-1.6%37d
Fri, Nov 27$40-1.6%44d
Fri, Dec 18$40-1.6%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42253137434955$22M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot4225343841.545496K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LUV 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

spot4225343841.545492K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot303540455055169%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 4627.53538.54245.550+$1.0M−$1.0M
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
0.98-0.01370.02590.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0137.50.03760.00-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02380.05880.00-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.0438.50.09220.01-0.04-0.08
0.86-0.06390.13570.01-0.06-0.14
0.78-0.0839.50.18380.01-0.08-0.22
0.68-0.10400.22860.01-0.10-0.32
0.56-0.1140.50.25810.01-0.11-0.44
0.43-0.11410.26040.01-0.11-0.57
0.31-0.0941.50.23420.01-0.09-0.70
0.20-0.07420.18860.01-0.07-0.80
0.13-0.0542.50.13800.01-0.05-0.88
0.08-0.04430.09680.01-0.04-0.92
0.06-0.0343.50.06790.00-0.03-0.95
0.04-0.02440.04840.00-0.02-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2532.53740.54447.56K0
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

spot12.5313742476016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 113K call contracts, 98K 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: LUV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk