Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:41 PM ET

PERI max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.59
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$5-47.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.28±13.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.14588 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3050.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$10+4.3%8d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-21.8%36d
Fri, Oct 16$5-47.9%64d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-21.8%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5369121518$4M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot52.57.512.517.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PERI 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

spot52.57.512.517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot81012141618110%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2.57.512.517.5+$30K$30K
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
0.98-0.002.50.00690.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0050.02490.01-0.00-0.06
0.85-0.007.50.08880.01-0.00-0.14
0.44-0.01100.24560.02-0.01-0.56
0.19-0.0112.50.10800.01-0.01-0.81
0.12-0.01150.06290.01-0.00-0.88
0.09-0.0117.50.04360.01-0.00-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.57.512.517.53K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: PERI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk