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

TMUS max pain

Spot (delayed)$146.97
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$170+15.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.5±18.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.885K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$190largest call OI
Put wall$170largest put OI
IV3039.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$107Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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, 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

spot17075124173222271320$70M$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, Mar 19

spot17075115145175210270880880
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TMUS open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot17075115145175210270162162
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot7512417322227132066%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot75115145175210270+$143K−$143K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.021100.00470.16-0.02-0.11
0.88-0.031150.00580.20-0.03-0.14
0.84-0.031200.00700.23-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.041250.00820.26-0.04-0.22
0.75-0.041300.00940.29-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.041350.01040.32-0.04-0.32
0.64-0.041400.01130.34-0.04-0.37
0.58-0.041450.01190.36-0.04-0.43
0.53-0.041500.01220.36-0.05-0.49
0.47-0.041550.01230.36-0.05-0.55
0.41-0.041600.01200.36-0.04-0.61
0.36-0.041650.01160.34-0.04-0.67
0.31-0.041700.01090.32-0.04-0.72
0.26-0.041750.01010.30-0.04-0.77
0.22-0.031800.00920.28-0.04-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 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