Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 2:11 AM ET

B max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.9
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$42+0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.35±10.4% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI1.953K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$43largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3041.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$151Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$39-6.9%2d
Fri, Aug 28$40-4.5%9d
Fri, Sep 4$40-4.5%16d
Fri, Sep 11$43+2.6%23d
Fri, Sep 18$40-4.5%30d
Fri, Sep 25$42+0.2%37d
Fri, Oct 2$40-4.5%44d
Fri, Oct 16$37-11.7%58d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42333742465155$2M$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 — 42 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot4233374145492K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)B open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot4233374145491111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot33374246515561%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 35333639424548+$231K$231K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.01350.02700.02-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.01360.03490.03-0.01-0.12
0.84-0.02370.04310.03-0.02-0.16
0.79-0.02380.05110.04-0.02-0.21
0.73-0.02390.05830.04-0.02-0.27
0.67-0.03400.06400.05-0.03-0.33
0.60-0.03410.06770.05-0.03-0.40
0.53-0.03420.06910.05-0.03-0.47
0.46-0.03430.06840.05-0.03-0.54
0.40-0.03440.06580.05-0.03-0.60
0.34-0.03450.06180.05-0.03-0.66
0.29-0.03460.05690.05-0.03-0.71
0.24-0.03470.05150.04-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.02480.04600.04-0.02-0.80
0.17-0.02490.04060.04-0.02-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot223134.53841.5476K0
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

spot32332.537.542.55575K75K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 519K call contracts, 357K 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: B workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk