Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:42 PM ET

MEI max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.76
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$7.5-55.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.23±31.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.06260 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30103.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$15-10.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-10.5%33d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-55.2%61d
Fri, Jan 15$15-10.5%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53916222935$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MEI 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

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3916222935364%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 52.57.512.517.522.530+$41K$41K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00140.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0150.00420.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.017.50.00990.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01100.02040.01-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.0212.50.03510.02-0.02-0.19
0.69-0.02150.04860.03-0.02-0.31
0.56-0.0217.50.05520.03-0.02-0.45
0.44-0.02200.05460.03-0.02-0.57
0.34-0.0222.50.04990.03-0.02-0.67
0.26-0.02250.04350.02-0.02-0.75
0.16-0.01300.03120.02-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.01350.02180.01-0.01-0.93

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 2K 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: MEI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk