Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 2:10 AM ET

ATS max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.31
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$15-26.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.75±13.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 9 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
IV3040.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$249per 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 21$15-26.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-26.1%33d
Fri, Oct 16$15-26.1%61d
Fri, Nov 20$15-26.1%96d
Fri, Dec 18$15-26.1%124d
Fri, Jan 15$15-26.1%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15151821242730$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot15152022.53044
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ATS 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

spot15152022.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot151821242730109%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot152022.530+$142$142
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
0.95-0.01150.02740.01-0.01-0.05
0.57-0.01200.15660.03-0.01-0.43
0.24-0.0122.50.11480.02-0.01-0.76
0.04-0.00300.01870.01-0.01-0.97

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

spot1522.530451590
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

spot12.517.522.5304050170170
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 474 call contracts, 24 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: ATS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk