Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 9:37 AM ET

RH max pain

Spot (delayed)$134.07
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$145+8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.1±15.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.541K puts / 825 calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
Net GEX−$99Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 18$152.5+13.7%5d
Fri, Sep 25$150+11.9%12d
Fri, Oct 2$140+4.4%19d
Fri, Oct 9$145+8.2%26d
Fri, Oct 16$145+8.2%33d
Fri, Oct 23$110-18.0%40d
Fri, Oct 30$145+8.2%47d
Fri, Nov 20$160+19.3%68d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14590124158192226260$7M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot14590115140165190230324324
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RH 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

spot14590115140165190230358358
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot90124158192226260139%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot90115140165190230+$44K$44K
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
0.95-0.041000.00420.05-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.061050.00590.07-0.06-0.09
0.88-0.081100.00800.09-0.08-0.13
0.83-0.091150.01010.11-0.10-0.18
0.77-0.111200.01220.13-0.11-0.24
0.69-0.131250.01400.15-0.13-0.31
0.62-0.141300.01530.16-0.14-0.39
0.54-0.141350.01600.17-0.14-0.47
0.46-0.141400.01600.17-0.14-0.55
0.39-0.141450.01540.16-0.14-0.63
0.32-0.131500.01430.15-0.13-0.69
0.26-0.121550.01300.14-0.12-0.76
0.21-0.101600.01140.12-0.11-0.81
0.17-0.091650.00990.10-0.10-0.85
0.13-0.081700.00840.09-0.08-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot601201411602002702K0
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

spot551001401802403205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 32K 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: RH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk