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

TMO max pain

Spot (delayed)$622.18
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$620-0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$50.4±8.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI2.842K puts / 559 calls
Call wall$680largest call OI
Put wall$560largest put OI
IV3026.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1.5Mper 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 · 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 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

spot620400490580670760850$28M$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 — 620 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot6204005005606206807601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMO open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot6204005005606206807601919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot40049058067076085081%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot400500570630690770+$1.5M$1.5M
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.145500.00280.46-0.14-0.12
0.85-0.165600.00340.54-0.16-0.15
0.81-0.185700.00390.61-0.18-0.19
0.77-0.205800.00450.69-0.21-0.23
0.72-0.225900.00510.76-0.23-0.28
0.67-0.246000.00560.83-0.24-0.33
0.61-0.256100.00600.87-0.25-0.39
0.55-0.266200.00620.90-0.26-0.46
0.49-0.266300.00630.91-0.26-0.52
0.42-0.256400.00620.89-0.26-0.58
0.37-0.246500.00600.86-0.25-0.65
0.31-0.226600.00560.81-0.23-0.70
0.26-0.216700.00520.74-0.21-0.75
0.22-0.196800.00470.67-0.19-0.80
0.18-0.176900.00410.60-0.17-0.84

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

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