Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 19, 3:18 AM ET

ROAD max pain

Spot (delayed)$94.33
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$100+6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$28.55±30.3% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI4.59248 puts / 54 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3042.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$11Kper 1% move

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$100+6.0%27d
Fri, Nov 20$100+6.0%62d
Fri, Jan 15$100+6.0%118d
Fri, Apr 16$100+6.0%209d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot100607692108124140$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot1006075901051251407676
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ROAD open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 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, Apr 16

spot10060759010512514099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot60769210812414055%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot607590105125140+$3K$3K
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.01600.00400.12-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.02650.00510.14-0.02-0.12
0.84-0.02700.00630.17-0.02-0.16
0.80-0.02750.00740.20-0.03-0.20
0.76-0.03800.00850.23-0.03-0.25
0.70-0.03850.00940.25-0.03-0.30
0.65-0.03900.01020.27-0.03-0.36
0.60-0.03950.01070.28-0.03-0.41
0.55-0.031000.01110.28-0.04-0.47
0.49-0.031050.01130.29-0.04-0.53
0.44-0.031100.01120.28-0.04-0.58
0.39-0.031150.01100.28-0.03-0.63
0.31-0.031250.01020.25-0.03-0.73
0.27-0.031300.00960.24-0.03-0.77
0.23-0.031350.00890.22-0.03-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50851151451752102670
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

spot5080110140170200268268
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: ROAD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk