Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:45 PM ET

ASH max pain

Spot (delayed)$74.37
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$60-19.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.4±16.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.19159 puts / 858 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3033.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$90Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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, Sep 18$70-5.9%20d
Fri, Oct 16$60-19.3%48d
Fri, Jan 15$60-19.3%139d
Fri, Apr 16$70-5.9%230d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot604052647688100$3M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6040557085100558558
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASH open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 15

spot604055708510011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot405264768810076%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 4540557085100+$74K$74K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.03400.00530.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01450.00600.05-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01500.00650.07-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.01550.00950.09-0.01-0.12
0.82-0.02600.01350.12-0.02-0.17
0.75-0.02650.01860.14-0.02-0.25
0.64-0.02700.02400.17-0.02-0.36
0.51-0.02750.02750.18-0.02-0.49
0.38-0.02800.02690.17-0.02-0.62
0.27-0.02850.02300.15-0.02-0.73
0.20-0.01900.01840.13-0.01-0.81
0.15-0.01950.01440.10-0.01-0.86
0.11-0.011000.01140.09-0.01-0.89

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

spot405570851001K0
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

spot30456075901051K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: ASH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk