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

TXN max pain

Spot (delayed)$263.28
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$270+2.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.03±11.4% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.8010K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$240largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3037.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$937Kper 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 · 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, 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

spot270100179258337416495$208M$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 — 270 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2701001451902703604502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TXN 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

spot270100145190270360450488488
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot100179258337416495134%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot105150195280370460+$782K$782K
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
0.96-0.021950.00170.08-0.03-0.04
0.96-0.032000.00210.09-0.04-0.04
0.93-0.052100.00320.13-0.05-0.07
0.89-0.072200.00460.18-0.07-0.11
0.83-0.092300.00630.25-0.10-0.17
0.76-0.112400.00800.31-0.12-0.24
0.67-0.132500.00950.36-0.14-0.34
0.56-0.142600.01040.39-0.15-0.44
0.46-0.142700.01050.39-0.15-0.55
0.36-0.142800.00990.37-0.14-0.65
0.28-0.122900.00880.33-0.12-0.73
0.21-0.103000.00750.28-0.11-0.81
0.15-0.093100.00610.23-0.09-0.87
0.11-0.073200.00480.18-0.07-0.91
0.08-0.063300.00370.15-0.05-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 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