Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 12:49 AM ET

QCOM max pain

Spot (delayed)$172.61
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$180+4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$43.35±25.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.1529K puts / 25K calls
Call wall$200largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3056.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 4usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · 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, Oct 23$177.5+2.8%today
Fri, Oct 30$177.5+2.8%7d
Fri, Nov 6$177.5+2.8%14d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Nov 4)
Fri, Nov 13$175+1.4%21d
Fri, Nov 20$175+1.4%28d
Fri, Nov 27$180+4.3%35d
Fri, Dec 18$180+4.3%56d
Fri, Jan 15$195+13.0%84d
Fri, Feb 19$180+4.3%119d
Fri, Mar 19$180+4.3%147d
Fri, Apr 16$180+4.3%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot18065126187248309370$329M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot180651051451852503305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QCOM open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot18065105145185250330204204
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot6512618724830937085%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot65105145185250330+$828K−$828K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.041400.00510.30-0.05-0.20
0.78-0.051450.00560.33-0.05-0.23
0.74-0.051500.00600.35-0.06-0.27
0.71-0.061550.00640.38-0.06-0.30
0.67-0.061600.00680.39-0.07-0.34
0.63-0.071650.00700.41-0.07-0.37
0.60-0.071700.00720.42-0.07-0.41
0.56-0.071750.00740.43-0.07-0.45
0.53-0.071800.00740.43-0.07-0.48
0.49-0.071850.00740.43-0.07-0.52
0.46-0.071900.00740.43-0.07-0.55
0.42-0.071950.00730.43-0.07-0.58
0.39-0.072000.00710.42-0.07-0.62
0.34-0.072100.00670.40-0.06-0.68
0.29-0.062200.00620.37-0.06-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot90135155177.52002358K0
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

spot65125157.5187.522530061K61K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 441K call contracts, 450K 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: QCOM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk