Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 3:44 AM ET

MSFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$494.77
Max pain · Wed, Sep 23$490-1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.28±3.1% by Wed, Sep 23
Put/Call OI1.91650 puts / 341 calls
Call wall$495largest call OI
Put wall$475largest put OI
IV3023.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$300Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $455
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 28usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Sep 14$495+0.0%3d
Wed, Sep 16$495+0.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$445-10.1%7d
Mon, Sep 21$490-1.0%10d
Wed, Sep 23$490-1.0%12d
Fri, Sep 25$490-1.0%14d
Fri, Oct 2$490-1.0%21d
Fri, Oct 9$500+1.1%28d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot490430454478502526550$3M$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 — 490 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Wed, Sep 23

spot490430465480495515535301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSFT open contracts per strike for Wed, Sep 23.

Open-interest change · 2026-09-102026-09-11

spot430467.5480495510+280280
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot — where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Biggest moves: 475 +280 · 472.5 +135 · 465 +84 · 495 +18

Volume by strike · Wed, Sep 23

spot490430465480495515535229229
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Wed, Sep 23

spot43045447850252655045%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Wed, Sep 23

spotflip 455430465480495515535+$811K$811K
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 · Wed, Sep 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.24477.50.01220.24-0.24-0.19
0.78-0.264800.01360.27-0.26-0.22
0.75-0.28482.50.01490.29-0.28-0.25
0.71-0.304850.01630.31-0.30-0.29
0.67-0.31487.50.01750.33-0.32-0.33
0.63-0.334900.01850.34-0.33-0.37
0.58-0.33492.50.01930.35-0.34-0.42
0.53-0.344950.01990.36-0.34-0.47
0.48-0.33497.50.02010.36-0.34-0.52
0.43-0.335000.02000.35-0.33-0.57
0.38-0.32502.50.01950.34-0.32-0.62
0.34-0.305050.01870.33-0.30-0.67
0.25-0.265100.01640.29-0.26-0.76
0.18-0.215150.01340.24-0.21-0.83
0.15-0.18517.50.01180.21-0.19-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot275385452.549052557529K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-08512.97385.00
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot220340410480550630174K174K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.5M call contracts, 1.3M 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: MSFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk