Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 25, 4:47 PM ET

TEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$218.23
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$210-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.4±13.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.181K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$200largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$200-8.4%21d
Fri, Nov 20$210-3.8%56d
Fri, Dec 18$210-3.8%84d
Fri, Jan 15$210-3.8%112d
Fri, Feb 19$200-8.4%147d
Fri, Apr 16$155-29.0%203d
Fri, May 21$190-12.9%238d
Fri, Aug 20$115-47.3%329d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot210100152204256308360$12M$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, Dec 18

spot210100130160190240300320320
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot21010013016019024030022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10015220425630836077%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 270100130160190240300+$144K−$144K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.041750.00430.18-0.04-0.10
0.87-0.051800.00520.21-0.05-0.13
0.84-0.061850.00610.25-0.06-0.16
0.81-0.061900.00700.28-0.06-0.19
0.77-0.071950.00790.32-0.07-0.23
0.72-0.082000.00870.35-0.08-0.28
0.63-0.092100.01000.39-0.09-0.38
0.52-0.092200.01060.41-0.09-0.48
0.42-0.092300.01040.41-0.09-0.58
0.33-0.082400.00950.38-0.08-0.67
0.25-0.072500.00830.34-0.07-0.75
0.19-0.062600.00700.29-0.06-0.81
0.15-0.052700.00570.24-0.06-0.86
0.11-0.042800.00460.20-0.05-0.90
0.08-0.042900.00370.16-0.04-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 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