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

AGQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.6
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$79+0.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.75±22.6% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI1.42266 puts / 187 calls
Call wall$81.5largest call OI
Put wall$74.5largest put OI
IV3080.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$9Kper 1% move

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 — 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

spot795564738291100$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 — 79 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot795574.57779.5825454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AGQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot795574.57779.5822121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot556473829110092%77%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot5574.57779.582+$5K$5K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.60-0.09750.01780.10-0.10-0.41
0.59-0.0975.50.01790.10-0.10-0.42
0.58-0.09760.01800.10-0.10-0.43
0.57-0.1076.50.01800.11-0.10-0.44
0.56-0.10770.01800.11-0.10-0.45
0.55-0.1077.50.01810.11-0.10-0.46
0.55-0.10780.01810.11-0.10-0.47
0.54-0.1078.50.01810.11-0.10-0.47
0.53-0.10790.01810.11-0.10-0.48
0.52-0.1079.50.01810.11-0.10-0.49
0.51-0.10800.01810.11-0.10-0.50
0.50-0.1080.50.01800.11-0.10-0.51
0.49-0.10810.01800.11-0.10-0.52
0.49-0.1081.50.01790.11-0.10-0.53
0.48-0.10820.01790.11-0.10-0.53

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 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