Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 10:20 AM ET

ACM max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.59
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$70+10.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.2±17.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.722K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$115largest call OI
Put wall$62.5largest put OI
IV3033.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$109Kper 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$67.5+6.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$62.5-1.7%34d
Fri, Oct 16$72.5+14.0%62d
Fri, Dec 18$70+10.1%125d
Fri, Mar 19$67.5+6.1%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot70385981102124145$14M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot7037.55572.587.5105135719719
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACM open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot7037.55572.587.51051353232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot38598110212414586%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 4037.55572.587.5105135+$84K$84K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00400.00430.03-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0042.50.00600.04-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01450.00820.05-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.0147.50.01070.06-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01500.01360.08-0.01-0.13
0.78-0.01550.02030.11-0.02-0.22
0.66-0.02600.02640.14-0.02-0.34
0.58-0.0262.50.02850.14-0.02-0.42
0.51-0.02650.02960.15-0.02-0.49
0.44-0.0267.50.02960.15-0.02-0.57
0.37-0.02700.02860.14-0.02-0.64
0.31-0.0272.50.02680.13-0.02-0.70
0.25-0.02750.02440.12-0.01-0.76
0.20-0.0177.50.02170.11-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01800.01890.09-0.01-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot37.56580951201909630
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

spot37.562.582.51051451851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 5K 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: ACM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk