Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:49 PM ET

WPM max pain

Spot (delayed)$134.21
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$125-6.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.25±15.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.691K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3043.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$281Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $75

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · 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, Aug 21$115-14.3%5d
Fri, Aug 28$110-18.0%12d
Fri, Sep 4$115-14.3%19d
Fri, Sep 11$113-15.8%26d
Fri, Sep 18$125-6.9%33d
Fri, Sep 25$130-3.1%40d
Fri, Oct 2$135+0.6%47d
Fri, Oct 16$125-6.9%61d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1257090110130150170$5M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1257090110130150170463463
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WPM open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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 16

spot1257090110130150170176176
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot709011013015017074%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 757090110130150170+$129K$129K
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.031000.00430.07-0.03-0.06
0.91-0.031050.00590.09-0.03-0.09
0.87-0.041100.00790.12-0.04-0.13
0.82-0.051150.01010.14-0.05-0.18
0.76-0.061200.01220.17-0.06-0.24
0.69-0.071250.01410.20-0.07-0.31
0.62-0.071300.01540.21-0.08-0.39
0.54-0.081350.01600.22-0.08-0.47
0.46-0.081400.01600.22-0.08-0.55
0.39-0.081450.01530.21-0.08-0.62
0.32-0.071500.01420.20-0.07-0.69
0.26-0.071550.01280.18-0.07-0.75
0.22-0.061600.01130.16-0.06-0.80
0.18-0.051650.00990.14-0.06-0.84
0.14-0.051700.00850.13-0.05-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot801051141221311401K0
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

spot50801081351651958K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K call contracts, 60K 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: WPM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk