Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 17, 8:20 PM ET

MRLN max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.09
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$5+139.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.73±34.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.144K puts / 28K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV30106.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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, Sep 18$5+139.2%1d
Fri, Oct 16$5+139.2%29d
Fri, Nov 20$5+139.2%64d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5+19.6%92d
Fri, Jan 15$2.5+19.6%120d
Fri, Apr 16$2.5+19.6%211d
Fri, Jan 21$2.5+19.6%491d
Fri, Jan 19$2.5+19.6%855d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53814192530$49M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot52.57.512.517.522.53011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRLN 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

spot52.57.512.517.522.530238238
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3712162125489%114%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 122.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 12.52.57.512.517.522.530+$2K$2K
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
0.34-0.002.50.52420.00-0.00-0.67
0.11-0.0050.15710.00-0.00-0.89
0.07-0.007.50.09470.00-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00100.06960.000.00-0.95
0.05-0.0012.50.05580.00-0.96
0.04-0.00150.04700.00-0.97
0.04-0.0017.50.04090.00-0.98
0.03-0.00200.03640.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 11 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.522.53012K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.53041K41K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 101K call contracts, 13K 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: MRLN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk