Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 29, 5:32 AM ET

TMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$622.18
Max pain · Fri, Oct 9$630+1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$46.5±7.5% by Fri, Oct 9
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 2 calls
Call wall$630largest call OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Oct 21usually before the open

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 4$605-2.8%6d
Fri, Sep 11$595-4.4%13d
Fri, Sep 18$530-14.8%20d
Fri, Sep 25$610-2.0%27d
Fri, Oct 2$620-0.4%34d
Fri, Oct 9$630+1.3%41d
Fri, Oct 16$620-0.4%48d
Fri, Nov 20$630+1.3%83d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Oct 21)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 9

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 9

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot320450540607.56406959970
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

spot2403704605506407202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 29K call contracts, 27K 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: TMO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk