Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 13, 9:33 AM ET

RS max pain

Spot (delayed)$394.21
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$380-3.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.1±6.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.4439 puts / 89 calls
Call wall$460largest call OI
Put wall$380largest put OI
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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$380-3.6%5d
Fri, Oct 16$380-3.6%33d
Fri, Nov 20$340-13.8%68d
Fri, Dec 18$250-36.6%96d
Fri, Mar 19$280-29.0%187d
Thu, Jun 17$330-16.3%277d
Fri, Dec 17$210-46.7%460d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot380240288336384432480$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 — 380 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3802402803604004503737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RS 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

spot38024028036040045022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot240288336384432480104%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 270240270350380410450+$17K$17K
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
0.98-0.042800.00070.06-0.04-0.02
0.97-0.052900.00090.07-0.05-0.02
0.97-0.063000.00110.09-0.06-0.03
0.88-0.123500.00470.25-0.12-0.12
0.83-0.143600.00620.30-0.14-0.17
0.77-0.163700.00810.37-0.16-0.23
0.69-0.173800.01020.43-0.18-0.31
0.58-0.183900.01190.48-0.18-0.42
0.46-0.184000.01260.48-0.18-0.55
0.34-0.164100.01180.45-0.17-0.67
0.23-0.144200.00980.38-0.14-0.78
0.16-0.114300.00760.30-0.11-0.85
0.07-0.064500.00400.17-0.07-0.95
0.05-0.054600.00290.13-0.05-0.97
0.02-0.034800.00150.07-0.02-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot240320360400440480770
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

spot140190280380480580157157
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 401 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: RS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk