Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 22, 9:31 PM ET

WFC max pain

Spot (delayed)$83.45
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$90+7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.58±7.9% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI2.16722 puts / 334 calls
Call wall$98largest call OI
Put wall$77largest put OI
IV3030.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$140Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70
Earnings · expectedTue, Oct 13usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 25$87+4.3%3d
Fri, Oct 2$88+5.5%10d
Fri, Oct 9$88+5.5%17d
Fri, Oct 16$85+1.9%24d← 1st expiry after earnings (Tue, Oct 13)
Fri, Oct 23$88+5.5%31d
Fri, Oct 30$90+7.9%38d
Fri, Nov 20$85+1.9%59d
Fri, Dec 18$85+1.9%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot906069788796105$1M$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot90607984899499398398
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WFC open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 30.

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 30

spot9060798489949910K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot606978879610563%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 70607984899499+$91K$91K
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 30

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.86-0.03750.02540.06-0.03-0.14
0.80-0.03770.03240.08-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.03780.03590.08-0.04-0.24
0.73-0.04790.03920.09-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.04800.04230.10-0.04-0.32
0.64-0.04810.04490.10-0.04-0.36
0.60-0.04820.04710.10-0.04-0.41
0.55-0.04830.04850.11-0.04-0.46
0.50-0.04840.04930.11-0.04-0.51
0.45-0.04850.04920.11-0.04-0.56
0.40-0.04860.04840.10-0.04-0.61
0.36-0.04870.04690.10-0.04-0.66
0.31-0.04880.04460.10-0.04-0.70
0.27-0.03890.04190.09-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.03900.03880.08-0.03-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50788490961024K0
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

spot27.555768594110111K111K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 400K call contracts, 609K 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: WFC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk