Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 5:50 PM ET

AVEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.39
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$25+16.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.6±30.9% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.482K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3093.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5-18.2%5d
Fri, Sep 18$20-6.5%33d
Fri, Oct 16$25+16.9%61d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5-18.2%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2581727364655$12M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot257.51522.535502K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AVEX open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot257.51522.53550120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot81727364655188%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 257.51522.53550+$27K$27K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.017.50.00370.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01100.00770.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0112.50.01460.01-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01150.02480.02-0.01-0.14
0.78-0.0217.50.03580.03-0.02-0.23
0.66-0.03200.04350.03-0.03-0.35
0.55-0.0322.50.04630.04-0.03-0.46
0.45-0.03250.04530.04-0.03-0.56
0.30-0.03300.03790.03-0.03-0.72
0.20-0.02350.02940.03-0.02-0.82
0.14-0.02400.02230.02-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.01450.01680.01-0.01-0.93
0.07-0.01500.01270.01-0.01-0.96
0.05-0.01550.00970.01-0.01-0.98

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

spot7.51522.535503K0
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

spot2.51017.52540554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 18K call contracts, 6K 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: AVEX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk