Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 12:38 AM ET

AMPX max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.48
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$13+4.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.75±22.0% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.02101 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$18largest call OI
Put wall$13.5largest put OI
IV3083.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8.5

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+20.2%4d
Fri, Aug 28$10-19.9%11d
Fri, Sep 4$7.5-39.9%18d
Fri, Sep 11$9.5-23.9%25d
Fri, Sep 18$13+4.2%32d
Fri, Sep 25$13+4.2%39d
Fri, Oct 2$12-3.8%46d
Fri, Oct 16$19+52.3%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot135912161923$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 — 13 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot13511131517214K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AMPX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot13511131517211515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot5912161923181%72%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 8.551113151721+$40K$40K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0050.00770.00-0.00-0.02
0.91-0.018.50.03920.01-0.01-0.10
0.88-0.0190.04800.01-0.01-0.12
0.78-0.0110.50.07940.01-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01110.08950.01-0.01-0.27
0.68-0.0211.50.09810.01-0.02-0.33
0.63-0.02120.10440.02-0.02-0.38
0.57-0.0212.50.10820.02-0.02-0.43
0.52-0.02130.10940.02-0.02-0.49
0.47-0.0213.50.10850.02-0.02-0.54
0.42-0.02140.10570.02-0.02-0.59
0.38-0.0214.50.10160.02-0.02-0.63
0.34-0.02150.09660.02-0.02-0.67
0.30-0.0215.50.09120.01-0.02-0.71
0.27-0.01160.08550.01-0.02-0.74

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot59131724325K0
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

spot0.5610.515213040K40K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 216K call contracts, 140K 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: AMPX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk