Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 5:42 AM ET

MTN max pain

Spot (delayed)$140.09
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$135-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.4±11.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.742K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3044.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$358Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$140-0.1%5d
Fri, Oct 16$135-3.6%33d
Fri, Nov 20$130-7.2%68d
Fri, Jan 15$150+7.1%124d
Fri, Apr 16$130-7.2%215d
Fri, Dec 17$135-3.6%460d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1357096122148174200$13M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot13570951201451702001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTN 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

spot1357095120145170200358358
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot7096122148174200132%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1407095120145170200+$355K$355K
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
0.96-0.041050.00360.04-0.05-0.06
0.94-0.051100.00530.05-0.06-0.09
0.91-0.061150.00750.06-0.07-0.13
0.87-0.071200.01030.09-0.08-0.17
0.81-0.091250.01370.12-0.09-0.23
0.73-0.101300.01730.14-0.10-0.31
0.64-0.111350.02040.15-0.11-0.41
0.53-0.121400.02210.17-0.11-0.51
0.42-0.111450.02190.16-0.10-0.61
0.32-0.101500.02000.15-0.09-0.70
0.24-0.091550.01700.13-0.08-0.78
0.17-0.071600.01380.11-0.07-0.84
0.13-0.061650.01080.09-0.05-0.88
0.09-0.051700.00840.07-0.04-0.91
0.07-0.041750.00650.06-0.04-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot901151401651902301K0
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

spot65951251551852302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 10K 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: MTN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk