Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 12:36 AM ET

ASR max pain

Spot (delayed)$263
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$280+6.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$19.1±7.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.4131 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3029.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $270

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 21$280+6.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$280+6.5%32d
Fri, Dec 18$300+14.1%123d
Fri, Mar 19$270+2.7%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280230256282308334360$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot28023025027029031088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ASR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot28023025027029031022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot23025628230833436091%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 270230250270290310+$8K$8K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.152300.00620.20-0.15-0.17
0.78-0.152400.00860.23-0.15-0.22
0.70-0.152500.01210.27-0.15-0.29
0.57-0.142600.01630.30-0.15-0.42
0.41-0.142700.01670.30-0.14-0.59
0.29-0.142800.01300.27-0.14-0.71
0.22-0.142900.00970.23-0.14-0.78
0.18-0.143000.00750.20-0.14-0.82
0.15-0.143100.00600.18-0.14-0.85
0.09-0.143600.00280.12-0.13-0.92

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

spot26028030032036080
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

spot1501802202803404001919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46 call contracts, 93 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: ASR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk