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

TJX max pain

Spot (delayed)$131.7
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$135+2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.6±10.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.8912K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$135largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$128Kper 1% move

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$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

spot1355084118152186220$94M$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13550801001301601904K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TJX 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

spot13550801001301601902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5084118152186220102%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5080100130160190+$1.2M$1.2M
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
0.97-0.0097.50.00330.05-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.011000.00400.06-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.011050.00600.08-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.011100.00880.11-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.021150.01260.15-0.02-0.15
0.78-0.031200.01680.19-0.03-0.23
0.68-0.031250.02060.23-0.04-0.32
0.57-0.041300.02310.25-0.04-0.44
0.46-0.041350.02360.25-0.04-0.56
0.34-0.031400.02210.24-0.03-0.67
0.25-0.031450.01910.20-0.03-0.77
0.17-0.021500.01540.17-0.02-0.85
0.12-0.021550.01170.13-0.02-0.92
0.08-0.011600.00860.10-0.01-0.97
0.05-0.011650.00610.07-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. 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