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

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.99
Max pain · Fri, Oct 30$115+4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.6±6.0% by Fri, Oct 30
Put/Call OI1.294K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$680Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $109
Earnings · expectedThu, Nov 19usually 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$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

spot115708396109122135$17M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot11570961031101171303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT 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

spot1157096103110117130564564
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spot70839610912213551%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 30

spotflip 1097096103110117130+$1.4M$1.4M
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
0.83-0.031030.02910.09-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.031040.03270.10-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.031050.03620.11-0.04-0.24
0.73-0.041060.03950.12-0.04-0.28
0.69-0.041070.04250.13-0.04-0.32
0.64-0.041080.04510.13-0.04-0.36
0.60-0.041090.04710.14-0.04-0.41
0.55-0.041100.04850.14-0.04-0.46
0.50-0.041110.04920.14-0.04-0.51
0.45-0.041120.04910.14-0.04-0.56
0.40-0.041130.04820.14-0.04-0.61
0.36-0.041140.04670.13-0.04-0.66
0.31-0.041150.04450.13-0.04-0.71
0.27-0.031160.04180.12-0.04-0.75
0.23-0.031170.03860.11-0.03-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 37 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