Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 12:10 AM ET

WTBA max pain

Spot (delayed)$29.83
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$22.5-24.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.13±17.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.251 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$131per 1% move

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$25-16.2%5d
Fri, Oct 16$22.5-24.6%61d
Fri, Jan 15$25-16.2%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5232528303335$1M$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot22.522.525303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)WTBA 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

spot22.522.525303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot23252830333591%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot22.53035+$62$62
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
0.87-0.0122.50.02460.03-0.01-0.13
0.80-0.02250.03820.03-0.02-0.20
0.53-0.02300.07010.05-0.02-0.47
0.24-0.01350.05260.04-0.01-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.525303560
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

spot12.517.522.530403131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10 call contracts, 31 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: WTBA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk