Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Sep 23, 1:17 AM ET

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.99
Max pain · Fri, Oct 23$107-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.96±5.4% by Fri, Oct 23
Put/Call OI0.492K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$101largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $80
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 19usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: 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, Sep 25$106-3.6%3d
Fri, Oct 2$106-3.6%10d
Fri, Oct 9$106-3.6%17d
Fri, Oct 16$105-4.5%24d
Fri, Oct 23$107-2.7%31d
Fri, Oct 30$115+4.6%38d
Fri, Nov 20$110+0.0%59d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Nov 19)
Fri, Dec 18$100-9.1%87d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot107658197113129145$13M$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 — 107 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot1076593100107114121728728
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 23.

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 23

spot10765931001071141211K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spot809310611913214565%13%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 23

spotflip 806593100107114121+$452K$452K
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 23

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.031030.02990.08-0.03-0.15
0.82-0.031040.03430.09-0.03-0.18
0.78-0.041050.03870.10-0.04-0.22
0.74-0.041060.04280.10-0.04-0.26
0.70-0.041070.04670.11-0.04-0.31
0.65-0.041080.04980.12-0.04-0.36
0.60-0.051090.05230.12-0.05-0.41
0.54-0.051100.05380.13-0.05-0.46
0.49-0.051110.05440.13-0.05-0.52
0.44-0.051120.05390.13-0.05-0.57
0.38-0.041130.05250.12-0.05-0.63
0.33-0.041140.05020.12-0.04-0.68
0.29-0.041150.04710.11-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.041160.04340.10-0.04-0.78
0.20-0.031170.03920.09-0.03-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot659510411312213536K0
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

spot40809710812014087K87K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 593K call contracts, 429K 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: WMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk