Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:25 PM ET

ABBV max pain

Spot (delayed)$256
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$230-10.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.52±4.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.4417K puts / 38K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$220largest put OI
IV3023.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$26.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $240

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, Sep 4$255-0.4%6d
Fri, Sep 11$250-2.3%13d
Fri, Sep 18$230-10.2%20d
Fri, Sep 25$250-2.3%27d
Fri, Oct 2$260+1.6%34d
Fri, Oct 9$245-4.3%41d
Fri, Oct 16$240-6.3%48d
Fri, Nov 20$240-6.3%83d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot23095148201254307360$354M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot23095145195247.5272.531012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABBV 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

spot23095145195247.5272.5310184184
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot15519623727831936094%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 240145185235257.5277.5310+$10.3M$10.3M
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
0.92-0.052350.00920.09-0.05-0.08
0.87-0.072400.01390.13-0.07-0.13
0.83-0.09242.50.01670.15-0.09-0.17
0.79-0.102450.01970.18-0.10-0.21
0.74-0.11247.50.02250.20-0.11-0.27
0.68-0.122500.02500.22-0.12-0.33
0.61-0.13252.50.02690.23-0.13-0.39
0.55-0.132550.02800.24-0.14-0.46
0.47-0.13257.50.02820.24-0.14-0.53
0.41-0.132600.02760.24-0.13-0.60
0.34-0.12262.50.02610.23-0.13-0.67
0.28-0.112650.02400.21-0.12-0.73
0.23-0.10267.50.02140.19-0.10-0.79
0.18-0.092700.01850.16-0.09-0.84
0.14-0.07272.50.01560.14-0.08-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot95180235260282.533013K0
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

spot8514520524527532023K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 145K call contracts, 113K 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: ABBV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk