Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 21, 11:24 PM ET

TGT max pain

Spot (delayed)$157.71
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$110-30.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$21.18±13.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8432K puts / 38K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3029.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120
Earnings · expectedWed, Nov 18usually before the open

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, Sep 25$157.5-0.1%4d
Fri, Oct 2$157.5-0.1%11d
Fri, Oct 9$160+1.5%18d
Fri, Oct 16$145-8.1%25d
Fri, Oct 23$147-6.8%32d
Fri, Oct 30$152.5-3.3%39d
Fri, Nov 20$145-8.1%60d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Nov 18)
Fri, Dec 18$110-30.3%88d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1104584123162201240$382M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot11045751051351651959K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TGT 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

spot11045751051351651957878
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4584123162201240127%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1205080110140170200+$727K$727K
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
0.92-0.021250.00530.11-0.03-0.09
0.89-0.031300.00700.14-0.03-0.12
0.85-0.041350.00890.18-0.04-0.17
0.79-0.041400.01080.22-0.04-0.22
0.73-0.051450.01260.25-0.05-0.28
0.66-0.051500.01400.28-0.06-0.35
0.59-0.061550.01490.30-0.06-0.42
0.51-0.061600.01530.31-0.06-0.50
0.44-0.061650.01510.30-0.06-0.57
0.37-0.061700.01440.29-0.05-0.64
0.30-0.051750.01340.27-0.05-0.71
0.25-0.051800.01210.24-0.04-0.76
0.20-0.041850.01070.22-0.04-0.81
0.16-0.041900.00920.19-0.03-0.85
0.12-0.031950.00780.16-0.02-0.89

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

spot120138145155172.51902K0
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

spot459513614616519013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 192K call contracts, 179K 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: TGT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk