Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 10:00 AM ET

ATYR max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.53
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$0.5-5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.37±69.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.05999 puts / 22K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV3096.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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$0.5-5.5%6d
Fri, Sep 18$0.5-5.5%34d
Fri, Nov 20$0.5-5.5%97d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5-5.5%153d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5-5.5%188d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5-5.5%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.513571012$18M$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, Jan 15

spot0.50.51.52.55105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ATYR 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

spot0.50.51.52.551033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13571012272%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 121.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.52.57.512+$859$859
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
0.67-0.000.50.78690.000.00-0.29
0.36-0.0010.75120.000.00-0.57
0.26-0.001.50.58080.000.00-0.67
0.210.0020.48120.000.00-0.72
0.190.002.50.41930.000.00-0.75
0.150.0040.32340.000.00-0.81
0.140.0050.29010.00-0.00-0.83
0.120.007.50.24320.00-0.00-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 10 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.511.52343K0
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

spot0.51.52.547108K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K 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: ATYR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk