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

WMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.99
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$100-9.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.48±10.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.7150K puts / 70K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.3Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $90
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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 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

spot1004071102133164195$533M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10040658510514017513K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot1004065851051401755K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot407110213316419584%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 90406585105140175+$1.1M$1.1M
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0187.50.00600.06-0.01-0.05
0.94-0.01900.00780.07-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0192.50.01000.09-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01950.01270.10-0.02-0.12
0.85-0.0297.50.01560.13-0.02-0.16
0.80-0.021000.01860.15-0.02-0.20
0.69-0.031050.02420.19-0.03-0.31
0.56-0.031100.02760.21-0.03-0.45
0.42-0.031150.02770.21-0.03-0.59
0.30-0.031200.02470.19-0.03-0.72
0.20-0.021250.01980.15-0.02-0.84
0.13-0.021300.01460.11-0.02-0.93
0.08-0.011350.01020.08-0.01-0.98
0.05-0.011400.00700.06-0.02-1.00
0.03-0.011450.00480.04-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 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