Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:57 AM ET

ASND max pain

Spot (delayed)$246.51
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$230-6.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$50.95±20.7% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.1147 puts / 432 calls
Call wall$350largest call OI
Put wall$230largest put OI
IV3041.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$82Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $140

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$260+5.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$260+5.5%35d
Fri, Oct 16$220-10.8%63d
Fri, Dec 18$210-14.8%126d
Fri, Jan 15$230-6.7%154d
Fri, Mar 19$200-18.9%217d
Fri, Dec 17$220-10.8%490d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot230130184238292346400$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 — 230 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot230130170220280320360129129
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASND 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

spot23013017022028032036044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13018423829234640058%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 140130170220280320360+$23K$23K
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
0.970.001450.00080.10-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.021700.00190.22-0.03-0.07
0.87-0.041900.00310.34-0.05-0.13
0.83-0.052000.00370.41-0.06-0.17
0.78-0.062100.00440.47-0.06-0.22
0.73-0.062200.00500.53-0.07-0.27
0.68-0.072300.00550.58-0.07-0.33
0.55-0.082500.00630.63-0.08-0.46
0.43-0.072700.00640.63-0.08-0.58
0.37-0.072800.00620.61-0.07-0.65
0.32-0.072900.00590.57-0.07-0.71
0.27-0.063000.00550.53-0.06-0.76
0.22-0.063100.00500.48-0.06-0.81
0.18-0.053200.00450.43-0.05-0.86
0.15-0.043300.00400.37-0.04-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1001451802202803401K0
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

spot1001401802403204001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 3K 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: ASND workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk