Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:54 AM ET

ARES max pain

Spot (delayed)$149.45
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$125-16.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.3±10.9% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.133 puts / 23 calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$137largest put OI
IV3036.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move

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$125-16.4%6d
Fri, Aug 28$124-17.0%13d
Fri, Sep 4$135-9.7%20d
Fri, Sep 11$140-6.3%27d
Fri, Sep 18$130-13.0%34d
Fri, Sep 25$125-16.4%41d
Fri, Nov 20$120-19.7%97d
Fri, Dec 18$135-9.7%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot125125130135140145150$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot1251251311351371401501414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARES 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

spot12512513113513714015044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot12513013514014515043%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot125131135137140150+$7K$7K
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
0.90-0.041250.00800.09-0.06-0.13
0.84-0.051310.01140.12-0.07-0.18
0.80-0.061350.01410.14-0.07-0.23
0.77-0.071370.01550.15-0.08-0.26
0.72-0.081400.01760.17-0.08-0.31
0.52-0.091500.02190.20-0.08-0.51

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

spot951201301381451556K0
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

spot551071201331461808K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 35K call contracts, 51K 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: ARES workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk