Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 1:21 AM ET

TXN max pain

Spot (delayed)$263.28
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$255-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$22.67±8.6% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI1.45755 puts / 521 calls
Call wall$260largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3037.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$80Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 20usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$267.5+1.6%1d
Fri, Sep 4$280+6.4%8d
Fri, Sep 11$270+2.6%15d
Fri, Sep 18$260-1.2%22d
Fri, Sep 25$255-3.1%29d
Fri, Oct 2$260-1.2%36d
Fri, Oct 16$270+2.6%50d
Fri, Nov 20$270+2.6%85d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 20)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot255165216267318369420$7M$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 — 255 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot255165205245285325405274274
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TXN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot2551652052452853254054848
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot16521626731836942088%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot165210250290330410+$233K$233K
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.092300.00630.14-0.09-0.11
0.85-0.112350.00780.17-0.11-0.15
0.81-0.132400.00940.21-0.13-0.19
0.76-0.152450.01100.24-0.15-0.25
0.69-0.162500.01230.26-0.17-0.31
0.63-0.182550.01330.28-0.18-0.37
0.56-0.182600.01400.30-0.19-0.44
0.49-0.192650.01420.30-0.19-0.52
0.42-0.182700.01400.29-0.18-0.58
0.35-0.172750.01330.28-0.17-0.65
0.29-0.162800.01230.26-0.16-0.71
0.24-0.142850.01110.23-0.15-0.77
0.20-0.132900.00980.21-0.13-0.81
0.16-0.112950.00840.18-0.11-0.85
0.13-0.103000.00720.16-0.10-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160215257.52853253802K0
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

spot10016021526531540010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 123K call contracts, 109K 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: TXN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk