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

MTZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$186.06
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$220+18.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$94.9±51.0% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.49657 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$300largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3060.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$72Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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

spot220115160205250295340$9M$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 — 220 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot220115155185220270320867867
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MTZ open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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, Jan 21

spot22011515518522027032088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot11516020525029534063%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 145115155185220270320+$96K−$96K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.031450.00230.60-0.04-0.22
0.77-0.041500.00240.63-0.04-0.24
0.75-0.041550.00250.65-0.04-0.25
0.74-0.041600.00260.67-0.04-0.27
0.72-0.041650.00260.69-0.05-0.28
0.71-0.041700.00270.70-0.05-0.30
0.68-0.041800.00290.73-0.05-0.33
0.66-0.041850.00290.75-0.05-0.35
0.65-0.041900.00300.76-0.05-0.36
0.63-0.051950.00300.77-0.05-0.38
0.62-0.052000.00310.78-0.05-0.40
0.59-0.052100.00320.80-0.05-0.43
0.56-0.052200.00320.81-0.05-0.46
0.53-0.052300.00330.82-0.05-0.49
0.51-0.052400.00330.82-0.05-0.52

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 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