Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 4:06 PM ET

TEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$215.57
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$200-7.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.25±6.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.671K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$190largest put OI
IV3033.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$709Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $220

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$200-7.2%21d
Fri, Nov 20$210-2.6%56d
Fri, Dec 18$210-2.6%84d
Fri, Jan 15$210-2.6%112d
Fri, Feb 19$200-7.2%147d
Fri, Apr 16$155-28.1%203d
Fri, May 21$190-11.9%238d
Fri, Aug 20$115-46.7%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot200110158206254302350$24M$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, Oct 16

spot200110145175210270330519519
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEL 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

spot2001101451752102703308484
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot135178221264307350121%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 220150175195230270310+$385K−$385K
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
0.99-0.011750.00140.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.021800.00240.03-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.031850.00400.04-0.03-0.03
0.94-0.051900.00640.06-0.05-0.06
0.90-0.071950.00970.09-0.07-0.10
0.84-0.102000.01380.13-0.10-0.16
0.66-0.152100.02170.19-0.15-0.34
0.43-0.162200.02330.20-0.16-0.58
0.23-0.122300.01780.16-0.13-0.78
0.11-0.082400.01060.10-0.08-0.91
0.05-0.042500.00550.05-0.04-0.97
0.02-0.022600.00270.03-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.012700.00130.01-0.00-1.00
0.00-0.012800.00060.010.00-1.00
0.00-0.002900.00030.00—-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

spot1201601902403003608050
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

spot1001351702102803502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 5K 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: TEL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk