Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 1:56 AM ET

ARIS max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.12
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$12.5-31.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93±27.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.24837 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3058.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$40Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-31.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$15-17.2%31d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5-31.0%122d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5-31.0%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.551117232935$5M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12.5512.517.522.530968968
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARIS open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot12.5512.517.522.5305050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51117232935126%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 12.5512.517.522.530+$18K$18K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.980.0050.00300.00-0.00-0.01
0.94-0.00100.01420.01-0.00-0.06
0.88-0.0112.50.02820.02-0.01-0.12
0.76-0.01150.04600.03-0.01-0.23
0.62-0.0117.50.05820.04-0.01-0.38
0.47-0.01200.05990.04-0.01-0.53
0.36-0.0122.50.05480.04-0.01-0.65
0.27-0.01250.04700.04-0.01-0.74
0.15-0.01300.03220.03-0.01-0.86
0.09-0.01350.02140.02-0.00-0.93

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

spot510152025352K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K call contracts, 4K 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: ARIS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk