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

AMPX max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.48
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$12-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.2±25.6% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.501 puts / 2 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3083.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13per 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 — 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

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

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, Oct 2

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