Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 28, 9:34 PM ET

TSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$431.28
Max pain · Fri, Dec 4$440+2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$38.58±8.9% by Fri, Dec 4
Put/Call OI3.437K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$440largest call OI
Put wall$430largest put OI
IV3033.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$7.3Mper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$425-1.5%2d
Fri, Nov 6$440+2.0%9d
Fri, Nov 13$435+0.9%16d
Fri, Nov 20$420-2.6%23d
Fri, Nov 27$450+4.3%30d
Fri, Dec 4$440+2.0%37d
Fri, Dec 18$420-2.6%51d
Fri, Jan 15$380-11.9%79d
Fri, Feb 19$420-2.6%114d
Fri, Mar 19$420-2.6%142d
Fri, Apr 16$430-0.3%170d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot440235295355415475535$140M$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 — 440 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot4402353053554054555106K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TSM open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 4.

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, Dec 4

spot440235305355405455510303303
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot23529535541547553576%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 4

spot235305355405455510+$9.1M−$9.1M
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, Dec 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.153950.00470.33-0.16-0.15
0.82-0.174000.00520.37-0.18-0.18
0.80-0.184050.00580.40-0.19-0.21
0.77-0.204100.00630.43-0.20-0.24
0.73-0.214150.00680.46-0.22-0.27
0.70-0.224200.00730.49-0.23-0.31
0.66-0.234250.00770.52-0.24-0.35
0.62-0.244300.00810.53-0.25-0.39
0.58-0.254350.00830.55-0.25-0.43
0.54-0.254400.00850.56-0.25-0.47
0.49-0.254450.00860.56-0.25-0.52
0.45-0.254500.00860.56-0.25-0.56
0.41-0.244550.00840.54-0.24-0.60
0.37-0.234600.00820.53-0.24-0.64
0.33-0.224650.00790.51-0.23-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot230315382.5420452.549515K0
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

spot7020032041548060079K79K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 928K call contracts, 952K 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: TSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk