Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 1:58 AM ET

ASPI max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.34
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$0.5-88.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.95±44.9% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.0213 puts / 665 calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$4.5largest put OI
IV3099.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$114per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$5+15.2%2d
Fri, Aug 21$4-7.8%9d
Fri, Aug 28$4-7.8%16d
Fri, Sep 4$0.5-88.5%23d
Fri, Sep 11$0.5-88.5%30d
Fri, Sep 18$6+38.2%37d
Fri, Sep 25$0.5-88.5%44d
Fri, Oct 16$6+38.2%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5123456$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot0.50.51.5345455455
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASPI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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, Sep 25

spot0.50.51.5345656656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot223456529%103%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 231.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot0.51.5346+$54$54
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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.000.50.00610.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.0010.01480.00-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.001.50.02780.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0020.04720.00-0.00-0.07
0.84-0.0130.12000.00-0.01-0.15
0.76-0.013.50.17770.01-0.01-0.23
0.65-0.0140.23160.01-0.01-0.34
0.53-0.014.50.25070.01-0.01-0.47
0.42-0.0150.23640.01-0.01-0.57
0.29-0.0160.18420.01-0.01-0.71

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

spot13.55.57.510.510K0
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

spot0.535.5810.51431K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 138K call contracts, 32K 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: ASPI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk