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

ARWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.59
Max pain · Fri, Dec 15$55-35.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56±65.4% by Fri, Dec 15
Put/Call OI0.0610 puts / 168 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$80largest put OI
IV3048.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

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

spot55406080100120140$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 15

spot55406087.51001404545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ARWR open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 15.

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 15

spot55406087.510014033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 15

spot40608010012014060%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 15

spot406087.5100140+$2K$2K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.910.00400.00190.20-0.01-0.09
0.90-0.0042.50.00210.22-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01550.00290.30-0.01-0.15
0.83-0.01600.00320.33-0.01-0.18
0.80-0.01650.00360.36-0.01-0.20
0.73-0.01800.00430.43-0.01-0.28
0.70-0.0187.50.00460.45-0.01-0.32
0.69-0.01900.00470.46-0.01-0.34
0.66-0.01950.00490.47-0.01-0.36
0.64-0.011000.00500.48-0.01-0.39
0.54-0.011250.00540.52-0.01-0.52
0.52-0.011300.00550.52-0.01-0.55
0.48-0.011400.00550.52-0.01-0.60

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

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