Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:28 PM ET

AG max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.99
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$17-10.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.42±12.7% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.31531 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$18.5largest put OI
IV3061.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$37Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17-10.5%3d
Fri, Aug 28$17.5-7.8%10d
Fri, Sep 4$18.5-2.6%17d
Fri, Sep 11$17-10.5%24d
Fri, Sep 18$17-10.5%31d
Fri, Sep 25$17-10.5%38d
Fri, Oct 2$17-10.5%45d
Fri, Oct 16$18-5.2%59d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1751015202530$2M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot17513.51618.52130207207
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AG open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot17513.51618.52130100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot81217212630213%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 881416.51922+$7K$7K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.0115.50.05460.01-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01160.06670.01-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.0216.50.08030.01-0.02-0.18
0.78-0.02170.09470.01-0.02-0.22
0.73-0.0217.50.10860.02-0.02-0.27
0.67-0.02180.12040.02-0.02-0.33
0.61-0.0218.50.12840.02-0.02-0.40
0.54-0.03190.13170.02-0.03-0.46
0.48-0.0319.50.13040.02-0.03-0.53
0.42-0.03200.12540.02-0.03-0.59
0.36-0.0320.50.11800.02-0.03-0.64
0.32-0.02210.10920.02-0.02-0.69
0.24-0.02220.09090.01-0.02-0.77
0.19-0.02230.07440.01-0.02-0.82
0.15-0.02240.06070.01-0.02-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101418222911K0
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

spot11014.51923.532115K115K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 651K call contracts, 354K 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: AG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk