Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 30, 8:26 PM ET

MTZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$186.06
Max pain · Fri, Sep 17$170-8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$81.7±43.9% by Fri, Sep 17
Put/Call OI0.3866 puts / 172 calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3060.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $190

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$195+4.8%21d
Fri, Dec 18$180-3.3%49d
Fri, Jan 15$250+34.4%77d
Fri, Apr 16$250+34.4%168d
Fri, Sep 17$170-8.6%322d
Fri, Jan 21$220+18.2%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17095142189236283330$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot170951301651952403006363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTZ 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

spot1709513016519524030022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spot9514218923628333066%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 17

spotflip 19095130165195240300+$8K−$8K
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
0.78-0.041450.00270.51-0.05-0.22
0.76-0.051500.00280.54-0.05-0.24
0.73-0.051600.00300.57-0.06-0.27
0.71-0.051650.00320.59-0.06-0.29
0.69-0.051700.00330.61-0.06-0.31
0.68-0.061750.00340.63-0.06-0.33
0.66-0.061800.00340.64-0.06-0.35
0.62-0.061900.00360.66-0.06-0.39
0.60-0.061950.00370.67-0.06-0.41
0.59-0.062000.00370.68-0.06-0.43
0.55-0.062100.00380.69-0.06-0.46
0.52-0.062200.00380.69-0.06-0.50
0.48-0.062300.00390.69-0.06-0.54
0.45-0.062400.00390.69-0.06-0.57
0.42-0.062500.00380.68-0.06-0.60

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1251702303204105203K0
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

spot551151752703905103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 15K 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: MTZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk