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

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.99
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$110+0.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.77±8.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.8956K puts / 63K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $65
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 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — 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

spot1106087114141168195$463M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot110608511013516018516K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot1106085110135160185981981
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot659111714316919564%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 656085110135160185+$3.6M$3.6M
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99750.00100.01-0.00-0.01
0.990.00800.00190.01-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00850.00360.03-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.01900.00670.04-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.02950.01210.07-0.02-0.09
0.83-0.031000.01970.11-0.03-0.17
0.71-0.041050.02750.15-0.04-0.30
0.56-0.041100.03230.17-0.04-0.45
0.40-0.041150.03190.17-0.04-0.62
0.26-0.031200.02680.14-0.03-0.77
0.15-0.021250.01950.11-0.03-0.89
0.09-0.021300.01290.07-0.02-0.96
0.05-0.011350.00800.05-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.011400.00500.03-0.01-1.00
0.02-0.011450.00330.02-0.01-1.00

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

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