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

AVEX max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.39
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$17.5-18.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.9±51.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.251K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3093.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$44Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$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

spot17.531324344555$13M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17.52.51017.5254055947947
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AVEX 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

spot17.52.51017.52540557979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot31324344555166%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 98.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.52.51017.5254055+$10K$10K
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
0.98-0.0050.00230.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.007.50.00510.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.01100.00920.02-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.0112.50.01420.03-0.01-0.12
0.81-0.01150.01930.04-0.01-0.19
0.74-0.0117.50.02360.04-0.01-0.26
0.67-0.02200.02660.05-0.02-0.33
0.60-0.0222.50.02840.05-0.02-0.40
0.54-0.02250.02910.06-0.02-0.47
0.43-0.02300.02850.05-0.02-0.58
0.34-0.02350.02630.05-0.02-0.67
0.28-0.01400.02360.05-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.01450.02100.04-0.01-0.79
0.19-0.01500.01850.04-0.01-0.84
0.16-0.01550.01630.03-0.01-0.87

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. 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