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

TEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$218.23
Max pain · Fri, May 21$190-12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$49.35±22.6% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.2333 puts / 145 calls
Call wall$220largest call OI
Put wall$180largest put OI
IV3033.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$34Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $105

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

spot190100142184226268310$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 — 190 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot1901001151701902103108181
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TEL open contracts per strike for Fri, May 21.

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, May 21

spot19010011517019021031011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot10014218422626831056%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 105100115170190210310+$24K−$24K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.031700.00350.42-0.03-0.16
0.79-0.041800.00420.49-0.04-0.20
0.77-0.041850.00460.53-0.04-0.23
0.74-0.041900.00490.55-0.04-0.26
0.72-0.041950.00520.58-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.042000.00550.61-0.05-0.31
0.63-0.052100.00590.65-0.05-0.38
0.57-0.052200.00620.68-0.05-0.44
0.51-0.052300.00640.69-0.05-0.50
0.16-0.033100.00380.43-0.03-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 16 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