Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:14 AM ET

ACNT max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.05
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12.5-16.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI1.54140 puts / 91 calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3044.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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, Aug 21$15-0.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-16.9%32d
Fri, Dec 18$15-0.3%123d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.5131415161718$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12.512.51517.59090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ACNT 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

spot12.512.51517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1512.51517.5+$4K$4K
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
0.85-0.0112.50.08370.01-0.01-0.15
0.52-0.01150.20270.02-0.01-0.47
0.21-0.0117.50.10980.01-0.01-0.78

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

spot7.512.51517.520256260
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 2K 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: ACNT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk