Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 5:21 PM ET

TEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$217.6
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$210-3.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.7±12.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.181K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$53Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$200-8.1%21d
Fri, Nov 20$210-3.5%56d
Fri, Dec 18$210-3.5%84d
Fri, Jan 15$210-3.5%112d
Fri, Feb 19$200-8.1%147d
Fri, Apr 16$155-28.8%203d
Fri, May 21$190-12.7%238d
Fri, Aug 20$115-47.2%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210105154203252301350$14M$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 — 210 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot210105135165195250310724724
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot210105135165195250310127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot10515420325230135097%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 150105135165195250310+$298K−$298K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.051750.00400.12-0.05-0.08
0.90-0.061800.00500.15-0.06-0.11
0.87-0.071850.00610.18-0.07-0.14
0.83-0.071900.00730.21-0.08-0.17
0.79-0.081950.00850.24-0.09-0.21
0.75-0.092000.00970.27-0.10-0.26
0.64-0.112100.01160.32-0.11-0.37
0.51-0.112200.01240.34-0.11-0.49
0.40-0.112300.01200.33-0.11-0.61
0.29-0.102400.01060.29-0.10-0.71
0.21-0.092500.00870.25-0.09-0.79
0.15-0.072600.00690.20-0.07-0.86
0.11-0.062700.00530.16-0.06-0.90
0.08-0.052800.00410.13-0.05-0.94
0.06-0.042900.00310.10-0.04-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 34 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