Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 27, 1:36 AM ET

SPXC max pain

Spot (delayed)$172.79
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$180+4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.8±7.4% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.77297 puts / 168 calls
Call wall$180largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3038.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$123Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Oct 16$180+4.2%19d
Fri, Nov 20$170-1.6%54d
Fri, Dec 18$195+12.9%82d
Fri, Mar 19$180+4.2%173d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot180135154173192211230$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 — 180 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot180135165180195220160160
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SPXC 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

spot1801351651801952206060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot13515417319221123079%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot135165180195220+$66K−$66K
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
0.98-0.021350.00200.02-0.02-0.02
0.88-0.081550.01170.09-0.08-0.12
0.81-0.111600.01620.11-0.11-0.19
0.72-0.131650.02080.14-0.13-0.29
0.60-0.151700.02430.16-0.15-0.40
0.48-0.151750.02530.17-0.15-0.53
0.36-0.141800.02380.15-0.14-0.65
0.25-0.121850.02030.13-0.12-0.76
0.17-0.101900.01600.11-0.10-0.84
0.11-0.071950.01190.08-0.08-0.90
0.07-0.052000.00840.06-0.06-0.94
0.03-0.032100.00390.03-0.02-0.99
0.01-0.012200.00170.01-0.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051551802102603102470
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

spot95130165200270340500500
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 993 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: SPXC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk