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

AGQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$78.6
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$60-23.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.05±38.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.211K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3080.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$218Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot603572109146183220$69M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6035701051221451852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AGQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot6035701051221451853535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot3572109146183220122%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 603575110125150190+$107K$107K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02450.00420.07-0.03-0.09
0.88-0.03500.00550.09-0.03-0.13
0.84-0.04550.00680.11-0.04-0.17
0.79-0.04600.00800.13-0.04-0.22
0.74-0.05650.00890.15-0.05-0.27
0.69-0.05700.00960.16-0.06-0.33
0.64-0.06750.01010.17-0.06-0.38
0.59-0.06800.01030.17-0.06-0.43
0.54-0.06850.01030.18-0.06-0.47
0.50-0.06900.01020.18-0.06-0.52
0.46-0.06950.01000.18-0.06-0.56
0.43-0.061000.00970.17-0.06-0.59
0.40-0.061050.00940.17-0.06-0.62
0.37-0.061100.00900.17-0.06-0.65
0.34-0.061150.00870.16-0.06-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 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