Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:37 AM ET

TECX max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.91
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$25-28.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.45±35.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.5213 puts / 25 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV30115.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$439per 1% move · flip ≈ $30

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · 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, Aug 21$25-28.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$25-28.4%33d
Fri, Oct 16$25-28.4%61d
Fri, Dec 18$25-28.4%124d
Fri, Jan 15$30-14.1%152d
Fri, Feb 19$22.5-35.5%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2581727364655$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot257.5152540551212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TECX 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

spot257.51525405511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot81727364655430%102%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 109.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 307.515254055+$266$266
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
0.98-0.01100.00230.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0212.50.00350.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.02150.00510.01-0.02-0.05
0.92-0.0317.50.00710.02-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.03200.00950.03-0.03-0.10
0.81-0.04250.01480.04-0.04-0.19
0.70-0.05300.02000.05-0.05-0.29
0.58-0.05350.02350.06-0.05-0.41
0.46-0.05400.02490.06-0.05-0.53
0.35-0.04450.02410.05-0.04-0.64
0.26-0.04500.02160.05-0.04-0.73
0.18-0.03550.01820.04-0.03-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot253545552K0
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

spot2.51017.52540552K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K 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: TECX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk