Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 1:07 AM ET

MGM max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.18
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$33+17.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.2±29.1% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI3.781K puts / 343 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3043.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$31Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$31+10.0%23d
Fri, Dec 18$33+17.1%51d
Fri, Jan 15$32+13.6%79d
Fri, Mar 19$30+6.5%142d
Thu, Jun 17$32+13.6%232d
Fri, Sep 17$33+17.1%324d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot33202734414855$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 — 33 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot332030384555612612
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MGM open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 17.

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, Sep 17

spot3320303845551515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot20273441485545%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot2030384555+$19K−$19K
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, Sep 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.00200.01830.05-0.00-0.12
0.74-0.00250.03230.09-0.01-0.28
0.63-0.01280.03840.10-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01300.04050.10-0.01-0.49
0.44-0.01330.04060.10-0.01-0.62
0.38-0.01350.03910.10-0.01-0.70
0.29-0.01380.03520.09-0.01-0.81
0.24-0.00400.03200.08-0.01-0.87
0.20-0.00420.02880.08-0.01-0.93
0.16-0.00450.02410.06-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15253137434920K0
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

spot15233037445525K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 76K 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: MGM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk