Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:15 PM ET

ALM max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.98
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12.5-10.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.6±25.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.171K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3090.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$86Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$15+7.3%7d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-10.6%35d
Fri, Nov 20$15+7.3%98d
Fri, Dec 18$15+7.3%126d
Fri, Jan 15$15+7.3%154d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-46.4%189d
Fri, Mar 19$2.5-82.1%217d
Thu, Jun 17$17.5+25.2%307d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53916222935$12M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALM open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot12.52.57.512.517.522.530936936
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot51117232935364%71%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 97.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.52.57.512.517.522.530+$49K$49K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.002.50.00190.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0050.00560.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.017.50.01670.00-0.01-0.04
0.88-0.01100.04520.01-0.01-0.12
0.69-0.0212.50.08870.01-0.02-0.30
0.45-0.02150.09600.02-0.02-0.54
0.29-0.0217.50.07570.01-0.02-0.71
0.19-0.02200.05600.01-0.02-0.80
0.14-0.0122.50.04170.01-0.01-0.86
0.10-0.01250.03170.01-0.01-0.90
0.06-0.01300.01950.01-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.01350.01280.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.51017.525406K0
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

spot2.51017.525407K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 19K 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: ALM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk