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

ALM max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.98
Max pain · Thu, Jun 17$17.5+25.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.05±57.6% by Thu, Jun 17
Put/Call OI21.226K puts / 303 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3090.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$51Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$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

spot17.53916222935$9M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot17.52.57.5152025353K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ALM open contracts per strike for Thu, Jun 17.

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 · Thu, Jun 17

spot17.52.57.51520253522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spot3916222935134%70%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Thu, Jun 17

spotflip 152.57.515202535+$28K$28K
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 · Thu, Jun 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.992.50.00290.01-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.0050.00850.01-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.007.50.01650.03-0.00-0.12
0.72-0.0112.50.03320.04-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01150.03850.05-0.01-0.39
0.54-0.0117.50.04110.05-0.01-0.49
0.46-0.01200.04150.05-0.01-0.57
0.39-0.0122.50.04030.05-0.01-0.65
0.33-0.01250.03810.05-0.01-0.72
0.24-0.01300.03260.04-0.00-0.83
0.18-0.00350.02720.03-0.00-0.91

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