Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 10:03 AM ET

TMUS max pain

Spot (delayed)$146.97
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$170+15.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.6±9.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.1911K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$185largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3039.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$155+5.5%4d
Fri, Nov 6$150+2.1%11d
Fri, Nov 13$155+5.5%18d
Fri, Nov 20$170+15.7%25d
Fri, Nov 27$150+2.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$145-1.3%39d
Fri, Dec 18$170+15.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$180+22.5%81d
Fri, Feb 19$185+25.9%116d
Fri, Mar 19$170+15.7%144d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17075122169216263310$109M$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 — 170 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot170751301501702002702K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMUS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot17075130150170200270413413
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot100142184226268310146%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10075125148162.5182.5220+$1.0M−$1.0M
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.041200.00600.05-0.04-0.06
0.90-0.061250.00880.07-0.06-0.10
0.85-0.081300.01240.10-0.08-0.15
0.78-0.101350.01650.12-0.10-0.22
0.69-0.111400.02030.14-0.11-0.32
0.58-0.121450.02300.16-0.12-0.43
0.55-0.121460.02330.16-0.12-0.45
0.53-0.121470.02360.16-0.12-0.48
0.51-0.121480.02370.16-0.12-0.50
0.48-0.121490.02380.16-0.12-0.53
0.46-0.121500.02370.16-0.12-0.55
0.40-0.12152.50.02330.16-0.12-0.61
0.35-0.111550.02230.15-0.11-0.66
0.30-0.10157.50.02090.14-0.11-0.72
0.25-0.091600.01920.13-0.10-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot100137148162.51802103K0
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

spot7513014417022532021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 151K call contracts, 111K 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: TMUS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk