Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 12:14 AM ET

QCRH max pain

Spot (delayed)$99.98
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$80-20.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.05±11.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.021 puts / 53 calls
Call wall$105largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $95
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 21usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · 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 16$85-15.0%25d
Fri, Jan 15$80-20.0%116d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Oct 21)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot808090100110120130$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot80801001101201303131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QCRH open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot808010011012013011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot809010011012013042%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 9580100110120130+$9K$9K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.02800.00950.13-0.02-0.14
0.66-0.02950.02410.20-0.02-0.33
0.53-0.021000.03070.23-0.02-0.46
0.38-0.021050.03010.22-0.02-0.62
0.27-0.021100.02390.19-0.02-0.72
0.21-0.021150.01840.17-0.02-0.79
0.17-0.021200.01460.15-0.02-0.83
0.15-0.021250.01190.13-0.02-0.86
0.13-0.021300.00990.12-0.02-0.88

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

spot8095105115125510
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

spot4565851051251455151
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 171 call contracts, 6 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: QCRH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk