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

ACET max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.32
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$7.5-19.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.23±77.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI1.5241 puts / 27 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV30114.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$86per 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$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

spot7.55810131518$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot7.557.51012.51517.53030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACET 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

spot7.557.51012.51517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot5810131518269%92%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 7.557.51012.51517.5+$136$136
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
0.89-0.0150.02550.01-0.01-0.11
0.76-0.017.50.05360.01-0.02-0.24
0.58-0.02100.07430.01-0.02-0.42
0.43-0.0212.50.07210.01-0.02-0.57
0.34-0.02150.06270.01-0.02-0.67
0.28-0.0217.50.05410.01-0.01-0.73

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