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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 3:30 PM ET

PEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$139.15
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$140+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.4±9.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.116K puts / 52K calls
Call wall$155largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3024.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · 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, Aug 7$140+0.6%6d
Fri, Aug 14$139-0.1%13d
Fri, Aug 21$140+0.6%20d
Fri, Aug 28$139-0.1%27d
Fri, Sep 4$140+0.6%34d
Fri, Sep 11$139-0.1%41d
Fri, Sep 18$140+0.6%48d
Fri, Oct 16$140+0.6%76d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14090118146174202230$395M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1409011514016519042K42K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PEP 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

spot14090115140165190172172
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot9011814617420223054%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 14590115140165190+$13.5M$13.5M
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
0.99-0.011050.00200.02-0.01-0.03
0.98-0.011100.00350.03-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.011150.00620.06-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.021200.01060.09-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.031250.01600.15-0.03-0.18
0.74-0.041300.02090.20-0.04-0.28
0.63-0.041350.02400.24-0.04-0.39
0.50-0.041400.02500.25-0.04-0.51
0.39-0.041450.02360.24-0.04-0.63
0.28-0.041500.02070.21-0.04-0.74
0.20-0.031550.01690.18-0.03-0.82
0.14-0.021600.01300.14-0.02-0.89
0.09-0.021650.00970.11-0.02-0.93
0.06-0.011700.00710.08-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.011750.00530.06-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751251341421501757K0
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

spot6512013214316020566K66K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 261K call contracts, 117K 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: PEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk