Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 11, 6:04 AM ET

WDC max pain

Spot (delayed)$458.5
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$455-0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$58.68±12.8% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.943K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$525largest call OI
Put wall$350largest put OI
IV3067.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$63Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $650

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 11$465+1.4%today
Fri, Sep 18$440-4.0%7d
Fri, Sep 25$480+4.7%14d
Fri, Oct 2$455-0.8%21d
Fri, Oct 9$490+6.9%28d
Fri, Oct 16$460+0.3%35d
Fri, Oct 23$460+0.3%42d
Fri, Nov 20$480+4.7%70d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot455270359448537626715$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 — 455 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot455270375425475525580386386
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WDC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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 2

spot455270375425475525580129129
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot270359448537626715115%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 650270375425475525580+$247K$247K
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 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.72-0.554250.00440.38-0.57-0.28
0.70-0.584300.00460.39-0.59-0.30
0.68-0.604350.00480.41-0.61-0.33
0.65-0.624400.00490.42-0.63-0.35
0.62-0.644450.00510.43-0.65-0.38
0.60-0.654500.00520.44-0.66-0.40
0.57-0.664550.00520.45-0.67-0.43
0.55-0.674600.00530.45-0.68-0.46
0.52-0.684650.00530.45-0.68-0.48
0.49-0.684700.00530.45-0.68-0.51
0.47-0.684750.00530.45-0.68-0.54
0.44-0.684800.00520.45-0.67-0.56
0.42-0.674850.00520.44-0.67-0.58
0.39-0.664900.00510.44-0.66-0.61
0.37-0.654950.00500.43-0.65-0.63

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

spot77.52703854605156104K0
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

spot1513027041053068021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 189K call contracts, 270K 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: WDC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk