Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 23, 1:27 AM ET

TXN max pain

Spot (delayed)$277
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$260-6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$42.33±15.3% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.6122K puts / 35K calls
Call wall$360largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3043.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $320

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 23$280+1.1%today
Fri, Oct 30$277.5+0.2%7d
Fri, Nov 6$285+2.9%14d
Fri, Nov 13$285+2.9%21d
Fri, Nov 20$280+1.1%28d
Fri, Nov 27$280+1.1%35d
Fri, Dec 18$260-6.1%56d
Fri, Jan 15$260-6.1%84d
Fri, Feb 19$265-4.3%119d
Fri, Mar 19$270-2.5%147d
Fri, Apr 16$280+1.1%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot260100179258337416495$616M$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 — 260 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2601001702252753253854K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TXN open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot260100170225275325385391391
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot100179258337416495107%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 320125175230280330390+$1.8M−$1.8M
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.81-0.072400.00480.36-0.09-0.19
0.79-0.082450.00530.39-0.09-0.22
0.76-0.092500.00570.42-0.10-0.25
0.73-0.102550.00610.45-0.11-0.28
0.69-0.102600.00650.47-0.11-0.31
0.66-0.112650.00680.49-0.12-0.35
0.62-0.112700.00710.51-0.12-0.39
0.58-0.122750.00740.52-0.12-0.42
0.55-0.122800.00750.53-0.12-0.46
0.51-0.122850.00760.54-0.12-0.50
0.47-0.122900.00760.54-0.12-0.54
0.44-0.122950.00760.53-0.12-0.58
0.40-0.113000.00750.52-0.11-0.61
0.37-0.113050.00730.51-0.11-0.65
0.33-0.113100.00710.49-0.10-0.69

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot160230262.5287.5312.53454K0
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

spot100175240287.533041011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 127K call contracts, 108K 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 · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk