Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 10:49 PM ET

ADBE max pain

Spot (delayed)$250.75
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$230-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.58±10.6% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI2.236K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$230largest call OI
Put wall$185largest put OI
IV3049.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$736Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $255
Earnings · expectedThu, Sep 10usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$245-2.3%2d
Fri, Aug 14$240-4.3%9d
Fri, Aug 21$225-10.3%16d
Fri, Aug 28$230-8.3%23d
Fri, Sep 4$240-4.3%30d
Fri, Sep 11$260+3.7%37d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Sep 10)
Fri, Sep 18$240-4.3%44d
Fri, Oct 16$230-8.3%72d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230140180220260300340$30M$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot2301401802152502853203K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ADBE open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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 28

spot230140180215250285320194194
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot140180220260300340163%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 255140180215250285320+$192K$192K
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 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.092150.00380.09-0.10-0.07
0.91-0.122200.00480.11-0.12-0.09
0.88-0.142250.00590.13-0.14-0.12
0.84-0.172300.00720.16-0.17-0.15
0.80-0.202350.00840.18-0.20-0.20
0.76-0.222400.00960.20-0.22-0.24
0.70-0.242450.01060.23-0.25-0.30
0.65-0.262500.01140.24-0.27-0.36
0.58-0.282550.01190.25-0.28-0.42
0.52-0.282600.01220.26-0.28-0.48
0.46-0.282650.01220.26-0.28-0.54
0.41-0.282700.01180.25-0.28-0.60
0.35-0.262750.01130.24-0.27-0.65
0.30-0.252800.01060.23-0.25-0.70
0.26-0.232850.00970.21-0.23-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 40 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot130205242.5277.53154206K0
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

spot115190257.533543055025K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 455K call contracts, 226K 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: ADBE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk