Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 5:48 AM ET

TGS max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.1
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$30+6.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.23±15.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI8.374K puts / 433 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3048.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$143Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$30+6.8%8d
Fri, Sep 18$30+6.8%36d
Fri, Oct 16$30+6.8%64d
Fri, Jan 15$30+6.8%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152025303540$4M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot30152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TGS 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

spot30152025351111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot152025303540162%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 2015202535+$129K$129K
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
0.95-0.01150.00890.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.0117.50.01380.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01200.02160.02-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.0122.50.03460.03-0.01-0.16
0.74-0.01250.05560.04-0.01-0.25
0.38-0.01300.07930.04-0.01-0.61
0.18-0.01350.04300.03-0.01-0.82
0.11-0.01400.02550.02-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15202535454310
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

spot15202535453K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K 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: TGS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk