Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 21, 11:25 AM ET

ACET max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.32
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$10+7.3% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.49229 puts / 468 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV30114.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10+7.3%today
Fri, Sep 18$10+7.3%28d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-19.5%56d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5-19.5%147d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105810131518$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot1057.51012.51517.5371371
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACET open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot1057.51012.51517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot579111315802%244%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 380.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 1057.51012.51517.5+$11K$11K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0050.00660.00-0.01-0.01
0.94-0.047.50.08220.00-0.04-0.06
0.34-0.23100.32950.00-0.23-0.66
0.04-0.0312.50.06320.00-0.03-0.96
0.01-0.01150.01580.00-0.01-0.99
0.00-0.0017.50.00550.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot57.51012.51517.53840
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

spot2.57.512.517.5575575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 921 call contracts, 306 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: ACET workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk