Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 12, 5:14 AM ET

TLN max pain

Spot (delayed)$312.74
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$310-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.5±15.2% by Fri, Oct 30
Put wall$310largest put OI
IV3050.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$360+15.1%5d
Fri, Sep 25$310-0.9%12d
Fri, Oct 2$285-8.9%19d
Fri, Oct 9$305-2.5%26d
Fri, Oct 16$340+8.7%33d
Fri, Oct 23$300-4.1%40d
Fri, Oct 30$310-0.9%47d
Fri, Nov 20$300-4.1%68d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

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 30

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2102953303804405401K0
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

spot16027034042049062010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 68K call contracts, 43K 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: TLN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk