Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:23 PM ET

AMBQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$64.34
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$65+1.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.6±21.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI5.42390 puts / 72 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3087.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$29Kper 1% move

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$70+8.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$65+1.0%34d
Fri, Nov 20$40-37.8%97d
Fri, Dec 18$60-6.7%125d
Fri, Feb 19$55-14.5%188d
Fri, Apr 16$35-45.6%244d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot654556677889100$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot654555657585100253253
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMBQ 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

spot65455565758510077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot455667788910093%74%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 83.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4555657585100+$24K$24K
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
0.93-0.03450.00780.03-0.04-0.07
0.86-0.05500.01240.05-0.06-0.14
0.78-0.07550.01700.06-0.07-0.23
0.67-0.09600.02060.07-0.09-0.34
0.56-0.10650.02250.08-0.10-0.45
0.45-0.10700.02260.08-0.10-0.56
0.35-0.09750.02130.07-0.09-0.66
0.27-0.08800.01890.07-0.08-0.75
0.20-0.07850.01600.06-0.06-0.82
0.14-0.05900.01300.04-0.05-0.88
0.07-0.031000.00780.03-0.02-0.96

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

spot12.53055801054770
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

spot12.5255075100125628628
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 3K 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: AMBQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk