Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 12, 1:08 PM ET

SMCI max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.28
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$41-0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.88±7.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.5079K puts / 156K calls
Call wall$44.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3079.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $42.5
Earnings · expectedTue, Nov 3usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$41-0.7%4d
Fri, Oct 23$42+1.7%11d
Fri, Oct 30$41-0.7%18d
Fri, Nov 6$40-3.1%25d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Nov 3)
Fri, Nov 13$44+6.6%32d
Fri, Nov 20$37-10.4%39d
Fri, Nov 27$44+6.6%46d
Fri, Dec 18$40-3.1%67d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot41202938475665$316M$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 — 41 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot4120343842465125K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMCI 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

spot4120343842465126K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot202938475665189%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 42.5203438424651+$4.2M−$4.2M
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
0.88-0.05380.05570.01-0.05-0.12
0.85-0.0638.50.06560.01-0.06-0.15
0.81-0.07390.07570.02-0.07-0.19
0.77-0.0839.50.08550.02-0.08-0.23
0.72-0.09400.09440.02-0.09-0.28
0.67-0.0940.50.10180.02-0.10-0.33
0.62-0.10410.10740.02-0.10-0.39
0.56-0.1041.50.11080.02-0.10-0.44
0.51-0.10420.11180.02-0.10-0.50
0.45-0.1042.50.11060.02-0.10-0.55
0.40-0.10430.10730.02-0.10-0.60
0.35-0.1043.50.10230.02-0.10-0.66
0.30-0.09440.09600.02-0.09-0.70
0.26-0.0944.50.08870.02-0.09-0.74
0.22-0.08450.08080.02-0.08-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5303640.5455028K0
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

spot12233435285144K144K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1.1M call contracts, 1.1M 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: SMCI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk