Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 1:33 AM ET

RTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$191.13
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$200+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.28±9.0% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9411K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$185largest put OI
IV3028.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.1Mper 1% move
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 20usually before the open

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$195+2.0%2d
Fri, Oct 2$195+2.0%9d
Fri, Oct 9$195+2.0%16d
Fri, Oct 16$200+4.6%23d
Fri, Oct 23$185-3.2%30d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 20)
Fri, Oct 30$195+2.0%37d
Fri, Nov 20$200+4.6%58d
Fri, Dec 18$180-5.8%86d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200100142184226268310$97M$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 — 200 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2001001301601902403002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot200100130160190240300398398
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10014218422626831091%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100130160190240300+$748K$748K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.021550.00380.08-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.021600.00530.10-0.03-0.07
0.90-0.031650.00730.14-0.04-0.10
0.86-0.041700.00960.18-0.04-0.15
0.80-0.051750.01220.21-0.05-0.21
0.73-0.061800.01480.25-0.06-0.28
0.65-0.071850.01690.28-0.07-0.36
0.56-0.071900.01820.30-0.07-0.45
0.47-0.071950.01850.30-0.07-0.54
0.39-0.072000.01790.29-0.07-0.63
0.23-0.052100.01440.23-0.05-0.78
0.12-0.042200.00960.16-0.04-0.90
0.06-0.022300.00580.10-0.03-0.98
0.04-0.012400.00340.06-0.02-1.00
0.02-0.012500.00210.04-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1501902052202452853K0
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

spot55110165192.522027012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 89K call contracts, 69K 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: RTX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk