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

AMBQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$64.34
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-37.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.1±37.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1159 puts / 533 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3087.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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 — 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

spot4013366083107130$3M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4012.530507090130190190
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMBQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot4012.53050709013011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot25466788109130109%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2520406080105+$9K$9K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00300.00240.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01350.00400.04-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.02400.00580.06-0.03-0.10
0.85-0.03450.00770.08-0.04-0.15
0.80-0.04500.00940.10-0.04-0.21
0.74-0.05550.01090.11-0.05-0.28
0.67-0.05600.01210.12-0.06-0.34
0.61-0.06650.01290.13-0.06-0.41
0.54-0.06700.01340.13-0.06-0.47
0.48-0.06750.01350.14-0.06-0.53
0.43-0.06800.01330.13-0.06-0.59
0.37-0.06850.01290.13-0.05-0.65
0.33-0.05900.01230.12-0.05-0.69
0.25-0.041000.01080.11-0.04-0.78
0.21-0.041050.00990.10-0.04-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. 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