Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:53 AM ET

AREC max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.79
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$1.5-46.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.8±28.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.22315 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30110.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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$2-28.3%6d
Fri, Sep 18$1.5-46.2%34d
Fri, Oct 16$1.5-46.2%62d
Fri, Jan 15$2-28.3%153d
Fri, Jan 21$1-64.2%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5123345$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1.512345397397
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AREC 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

spot1.5123456363
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot123345206%94%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 108.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1.51.52.53.54.5+$1K$1K
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
1.00-0.0010.00980.000.00-0.00
0.98-0.001.50.10490.00-0.00-0.04
0.86-0.0020.22650.00-0.00-0.14
0.68-0.012.50.36220.00-0.01-0.31
0.48-0.0130.40930.00-0.01-0.51
0.31-0.013.50.36490.00-0.00-0.68
0.18-0.0040.27710.00-0.00-0.80
0.10-0.004.50.18860.00-0.00-0.88
0.06-0.0050.11900.00-0.00-0.93

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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.54K0
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

spot0.523.55109K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 56K call contracts, 12K 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: AREC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk