Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:55 AM ET

ARWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.59
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$70-18.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$44.75±52.3% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.531K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$70largest put OI
IV3048.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$36Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$85-0.7%7d
Fri, Sep 18$75-12.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$75-12.4%126d
Fri, Jan 15$50-41.6%154d
Fri, Mar 19$65-24.1%217d
Fri, Jan 21$70-18.2%525d
Fri, Dec 15$55-35.7%854d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7015406590115140$12M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot701532557085110946946
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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, Jan 21

spot70153255708511011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1540659011514094%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 70153557.572.587.5115+$11K$11K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.78-0.0167.50.00490.30-0.02-0.23
0.76-0.01700.00510.31-0.02-0.24
0.75-0.0172.50.00530.33-0.02-0.26
0.73-0.01750.00550.34-0.02-0.28
0.72-0.0177.50.00570.34-0.02-0.29
0.70-0.01800.00580.35-0.02-0.31
0.68-0.0282.50.00600.36-0.02-0.33
0.67-0.02850.00610.37-0.02-0.34
0.65-0.0287.50.00630.38-0.02-0.36
0.64-0.02900.00640.38-0.02-0.38
0.61-0.02950.00660.39-0.02-0.41
0.58-0.021000.00670.40-0.02-0.45
0.55-0.021050.00680.41-0.02-0.48
0.52-0.021100.00690.41-0.02-0.51
0.49-0.021150.00690.41-0.02-0.54

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 36 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot305570851051354K0
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

spot153552.572.592.51305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 20K 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: ARWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk