Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:50 AM ET

AADX max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.15
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$20+4.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.15±16.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.77317 puts / 412 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3071.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20+4.4%7d
Fri, Sep 18$20+4.4%35d
Fri, Nov 20$20+4.4%98d
Fri, Feb 19$20+4.4%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20101418222630$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot201017.522.530190190
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AADX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot201017.522.5302323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot101418222630128%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 22.51017.522.530+$4K$4K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01100.01060.01-0.01-0.04
0.86-0.01150.04790.01-0.01-0.15
0.69-0.0217.50.08480.02-0.02-0.32
0.46-0.02200.09140.02-0.02-0.55
0.30-0.0222.50.07180.02-0.02-0.71
0.21-0.02250.05330.02-0.02-0.81
0.12-0.02300.03100.01-0.01-0.90

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

spot1017.522.5301K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 4K 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: AADX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk