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

ARES max pain

Spot (delayed)$149.45
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$120-19.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$24.75±16.6% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.061K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$110largest put OI
IV3036.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$205Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — 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

spot1205588121154187220$9M$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1205580105130155180617617
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARES open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot12055801051301551807777
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5588121154187220106%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1455580105130155180+$59K$59K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.031150.00560.14-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.031200.00680.17-0.04-0.15
0.82-0.041250.00810.20-0.04-0.18
0.77-0.041300.00950.23-0.05-0.23
0.72-0.051350.01070.26-0.05-0.28
0.66-0.051400.01180.28-0.06-0.34
0.60-0.061450.01270.30-0.06-0.40
0.54-0.061500.01330.31-0.06-0.47
0.47-0.061550.01340.31-0.06-0.54
0.41-0.061600.01310.30-0.06-0.60
0.35-0.051650.01250.28-0.05-0.67
0.29-0.051700.01170.27-0.05-0.72
0.25-0.051750.01070.24-0.04-0.77
0.21-0.041800.00960.22-0.04-0.81
0.14-0.031900.00740.18-0.03-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. 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