Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:16 PM ET

ABM max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.13
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$40-16.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.13±21.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.026 puts / 266 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3032.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$19Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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 · 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, Aug 21$45-6.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$45-6.5%33d
Fri, Oct 16$40-16.9%61d
Fri, Jan 15$30-37.7%152d
Fri, Mar 19$40-16.9%215d
Thu, Jun 17$40-16.9%305d
Fri, Sep 17$45-6.5%397d
Fri, Dec 17$35-27.3%488d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40353943475155$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot403540455055236236
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ABM open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot40354045505511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot35394347515547%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 403540455055+$18K$18K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.01350.01300.07-0.01-0.13
0.79-0.01400.02050.10-0.01-0.21
0.66-0.01450.02880.13-0.01-0.34
0.50-0.01500.03370.15-0.01-0.51
0.34-0.01550.03210.14-0.01-0.67

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

spot304050606140
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

spot2025354555651K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 427 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: ABM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk