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

B max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.9
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$37-11.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.93±14.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.6526K puts / 40K calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3041.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$796Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$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

spot37183043556880$109M$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 — 37 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot371828344046608K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)B 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

spot371828344046602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot183043556880137%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 45182834404660+$291K$291K
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
0.87-0.01350.02810.04-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01360.03340.04-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.02370.03870.05-0.02-0.20
0.75-0.02380.04350.05-0.02-0.25
0.70-0.02390.04770.06-0.02-0.30
0.65-0.02400.05100.06-0.02-0.35
0.60-0.02410.05320.07-0.02-0.41
0.54-0.02420.05420.07-0.02-0.46
0.49-0.02430.05410.07-0.03-0.51
0.44-0.02440.05310.07-0.03-0.56
0.39-0.02450.05130.07-0.02-0.61
0.34-0.02460.04890.06-0.02-0.66
0.30-0.02470.04600.06-0.02-0.70
0.27-0.02480.04290.06-0.02-0.74
0.23-0.02490.03960.05-0.02-0.77

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 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