Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 6:43 PM ET

QQQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$714.89
Max pain · Mon, Sep 14$711-0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.15±0.7% by Mon, Sep 14
Put/Call OI2.0687K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$730largest call OI
Put wall$655largest put OI
Net GEX+$114.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $720

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Mon, Sep 14$711-0.5%2d
Tue, Sep 15$715+0.0%3d
Wed, Sep 16$710-0.7%4d
Thu, Sep 17$710-0.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$700-2.1%6d
Mon, Sep 21$714-0.1%9d
Tue, Sep 22$720+0.7%10d
Wed, Sep 23$715+0.0%11d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot711485539593647701755$1.5B$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 — 711 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Mon, Sep 14

spot71148564568070371372412K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)QQQ open contracts per strike for Mon, Sep 14.

Open-interest change · 2026-09-102026-09-11

spot450575647696713730+5K5K
Net contracts opened (up, green) or closed (down, red) per strike since the previous snapshot — where the walls are building and where they’re unwinding. Biggest moves: 730 +5K · 722 +2K · 684 +2K · 647 +2K

Volume by strike · Mon, Sep 14

spot71148564568070371372462K62K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Mon, Sep 14

spot65067169271373475539%7%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 9.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Mon, Sep 14

spotflip 720585660695708718735+$42.4M$42.4M
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 · Mon, Sep 14

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.347080.03450.18-0.35-0.19
0.78-0.387090.03880.20-0.38-0.22
0.75-0.417100.04320.21-0.41-0.26
0.71-0.447110.04770.23-0.44-0.30
0.66-0.467120.05200.24-0.47-0.34
0.61-0.477130.05600.25-0.48-0.39
0.55-0.487140.05930.26-0.48-0.45
0.49-0.477150.06160.26-0.48-0.51
0.43-0.457160.06240.26-0.46-0.57
0.37-0.417170.06150.25-0.42-0.64
0.30-0.377180.05860.23-0.37-0.71
0.19-0.257200.04720.18-0.25-0.82
0.14-0.197210.03970.15-0.19-0.87
0.10-0.147220.03180.12-0.14-0.91
0.07-0.107230.02440.10-0.10-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot58067970271372473915K0
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.

Max pain history — nearest expiry vs price

07-2808-0508-1308-2108-3109-08732.65660.09
— max pain (nearest expiry)- - delayed closeOne point per snapshot day since 2026-07-28; unobserved days are gaps, not guesses.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot350560630700765860381K381K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5.0M call contracts, 6.9M 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: QQQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk