Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 12:50 PM ET

TJX max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.7
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$125-5.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.77±5.9% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI8.527K puts / 786 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$125largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 25$129-2.1%3d
Fri, Oct 2$129-2.1%10d
Fri, Oct 9$125-5.1%17d
Fri, Oct 16$130-1.3%24d
Fri, Oct 23$125-5.1%31d
Fri, Oct 30$130-1.3%38d
Fri, Nov 20$130-1.3%59d
Fri, Dec 18$135+2.5%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1258098116134152170$30M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot125801101251401557K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TJX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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 23

spot125801101251401558989
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot809811613415217068%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 10080110125140155+$3.7M$3.7M
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 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99800.00060.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.011000.00220.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.011050.00330.02-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.011100.00540.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.011150.00930.04-0.02-0.05
0.90-0.021200.01810.07-0.02-0.10
0.78-0.041250.03320.12-0.04-0.23
0.58-0.061300.04330.15-0.06-0.43
0.36-0.051350.04170.14-0.05-0.65
0.18-0.041400.03000.10-0.04-0.83
0.09-0.021450.01710.06-0.02-0.94
0.05-0.021500.00990.04-0.02-0.98
0.04-0.011550.00660.03-0.01-0.99
0.02-0.011700.00300.02-0.01-1.00

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

spot801201271331391653K0
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

spot5097.511913014119012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 87K call contracts, 60K 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: TJX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk