Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 1:55 AM ET

MSA max pain

Spot (delayed)$181.57
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$175-3.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.022 puts / 81 calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3026.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$75Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $180

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$175-3.6%1d
Fri, Nov 20$150-17.4%36d
Fri, Dec 18$165-9.1%64d
Fri, Mar 19$180-0.9%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot175170175180185190195$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 — 175 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1751701751801851901957878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSA 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

spot17517017518018519019511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot170175180185190195130%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 180170175180185190195+$72K−$72K
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
0.91-0.311700.01770.02-0.31-0.09
0.83-0.441750.03490.03-0.44-0.17
0.63-0.581800.07000.05-0.58-0.37
0.26-0.431850.06460.04-0.44-0.74
0.10-0.231900.02810.02-0.22-0.91
0.05-0.141950.01330.01-0.13-0.96

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

spot1351651851952101030
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

spot110135160185220270103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 190 call contracts, 90 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: MSA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk