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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 8:50 AM ET

ARAY max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.26
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$0.5+89.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.27±104.2% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.0024 puts / 9K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV3086.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$855per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$0.5+89.4%20d
Fri, Sep 18$0.5+89.4%48d
Fri, Dec 18$0.5+89.4%139d
Fri, Mar 19$0.5+89.4%230d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112334$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot0.50.511.52344K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARAY 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

spot0.50.511.523411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot112233843%283%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 316.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.30-0.000.51.89710.00-0.00-0.72
0.140.0010.96460.000.00-0.89
0.090.001.50.64310.000.00-0.94
0.070.0020.48340.000.00-0.97
0.040.0030.32390.000.00-0.99
0.030.0040.24380.000.00-1.00

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

spot0.511.52347K0
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

spot0.511.52347K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 191 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: ARAY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk