Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 1:20 PM ET

AGQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.6
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$77-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.55±19.8% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.68410 puts / 599 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$77largest put OI
IV3080.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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$76-3.3%2d
Fri, Aug 28$65.5-16.7%9d
Fri, Sep 4$63-19.8%16d
Fri, Sep 11$68-13.5%23d
Fri, Sep 18$80+1.8%30d
Fri, Sep 25$77-2.0%37d
Fri, Oct 2$79+0.5%44d
Fri, Dec 18$60-23.7%121d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot774052647688100$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 — 77 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot77406771.575.579.585119119
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AGQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot77406771.575.579.5859292
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot4052647688100106%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 80406771.575.579.585+$14K$14K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.59-0.10750.01960.10-0.10-0.41
0.58-0.1075.50.01970.10-0.10-0.42
0.57-0.10760.01970.10-0.10-0.43
0.56-0.1076.50.01980.10-0.10-0.44
0.56-0.10770.01980.10-0.11-0.45
0.55-0.1077.50.01980.10-0.11-0.46
0.54-0.10780.01990.10-0.11-0.47
0.53-0.1178.50.01990.10-0.11-0.48
0.52-0.11790.01980.10-0.11-0.49
0.51-0.1179.50.01980.10-0.11-0.50
0.50-0.11800.01980.10-0.11-0.51
0.48-0.11810.01960.10-0.11-0.53
0.47-0.1181.50.01960.10-0.11-0.54
0.46-0.11820.01950.10-0.11-0.55
0.46-0.1182.50.01940.10-0.11-0.56

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3563.5707786992K0
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

spot1667.58012018037514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 84K call contracts, 27K 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: AGQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk