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

RTX max pain

Spot (delayed)$191.13
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$180-5.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.15±10.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.7910K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$160largest put OI
IV3028.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$228Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $125
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 · 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, 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

spot18055106157208259310$140M$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot18055901251601952602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RTX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot1805590125160195260112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot55106157208259310105%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 12590120150180220280+$441K$441K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.011550.00460.12-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021600.00600.16-0.03-0.10
0.87-0.031650.00770.20-0.03-0.13
0.83-0.041700.00950.24-0.04-0.17
0.77-0.041750.01140.28-0.05-0.23
0.71-0.051800.01320.32-0.05-0.29
0.64-0.051850.01460.35-0.06-0.37
0.56-0.061900.01550.37-0.06-0.44
0.49-0.061950.01580.37-0.06-0.52
0.41-0.062000.01540.36-0.06-0.60
0.27-0.052100.01330.31-0.04-0.74
0.17-0.042200.01010.24-0.04-0.85
0.10-0.032300.00700.17-0.03-0.94
0.06-0.022400.00460.12-0.03-0.99
0.04-0.012500.00320.08-0.03-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 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