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

TEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$218.23
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$210-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.55±15.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.501K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$571Kper 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 · 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

spot210110152194236278320$20M$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, Jan 15

spot210110145170195240290855855
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot21011014517019524029011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot11015219423627832067%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 150110145170195240290+$342K−$342K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.041750.00440.24-0.04-0.12
0.85-0.051800.00510.28-0.05-0.15
0.82-0.051850.00580.31-0.05-0.18
0.79-0.061900.00650.35-0.06-0.21
0.75-0.061950.00720.38-0.06-0.25
0.71-0.072000.00780.41-0.07-0.29
0.62-0.072100.00880.46-0.07-0.38
0.53-0.072200.00930.48-0.08-0.47
0.44-0.072300.00920.47-0.08-0.56
0.36-0.072400.00870.45-0.07-0.65
0.29-0.062500.00790.41-0.07-0.72
0.23-0.062600.00690.36-0.06-0.78
0.18-0.052700.00590.31-0.05-0.83
0.14-0.042800.00490.27-0.04-0.88
0.11-0.042900.00410.22-0.04-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 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