Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 2:05 AM ET

AXP max pain

Spot (delayed)$333.54
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$335+0.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.97±1.2% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI0.888K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$337.5largest call OI
Put wall$240largest put OI
IV3023.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$24.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $337.5
Earnings · expectedFri, Oct 16usually before the open

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 28$335+0.4%today
Fri, Sep 4$340+1.9%7d
Fri, Sep 11$340+1.9%14d
Fri, Sep 18$340+1.9%21d
Fri, Sep 25$335+0.4%28d
Fri, Oct 2$330-1.1%35d
Fri, Oct 16$340+1.9%49d← 1st expiry after earnings (Fri, Oct 16)
Fri, Nov 20$340+1.9%84d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot335195245295345395445$94M$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 — 335 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot335195245295327.5352.53953K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AXP open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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, Aug 28

spot335195245295327.5352.5395341341
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot295313331349367385102%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 337.5295315327.5340352.5370+$18.1M$18.1M
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, Aug 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.043150.00140.00-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.04317.50.00250.00-0.02-0.01
0.99-0.053200.00460.01-0.03-0.01
0.98-0.07322.50.00880.01-0.05-0.02
0.96-0.113250.01710.01-0.09-0.04
0.92-0.20327.50.03290.03-0.19-0.09
0.82-0.433300.05940.05-0.43-0.18
0.65-1.02332.50.08760.07-1.02-0.35
0.42-1.293350.08980.07-1.29-0.58
0.24-0.64337.50.06570.06-0.64-0.76
0.13-0.323400.04080.04-0.32-0.87
0.07-0.17342.50.02420.03-0.17-0.93
0.04-0.103450.01440.02-0.10-0.96
0.03-0.06347.50.00870.01-0.06-0.97
0.01-0.043500.00540.01-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 58 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot195245317.5342.5372.54153K0
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

spot14521026032036045050K50K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 146K call contracts, 105K 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: AXP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk