Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:50 PM ET

BEKE max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.85
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$17+0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.28±19.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.50741 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3039.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

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+0.9%4d
Fri, Aug 28$17+0.9%11d
Fri, Sep 4$16-5.0%18d
Fri, Sep 11$15-11.0%25d
Fri, Sep 18$17+0.9%32d
Fri, Sep 25$18+6.8%39d
Fri, Oct 16$17+0.9%60d
Fri, Dec 18$17+0.9%123d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot173916222935$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot17313202735488488
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BEKE open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot1731320273511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot81319243035112%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 41.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 13313202735+$11K$11K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.0030.00100.00-0.00-0.00
0.980.0080.00680.01-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.00100.01480.01-0.00-0.04
0.88-0.00130.04530.02-0.00-0.12
0.75-0.01150.07850.03-0.01-0.26
0.56-0.01170.09790.04-0.01-0.45
0.31-0.01200.08310.04-0.01-0.71
0.21-0.01220.06410.03-0.01-0.82
0.11-0.00250.04060.02-0.00-0.93
0.08-0.00270.02960.01-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00300.01850.01-0.00-1.00
0.03-0.00320.01370.01-0.00-1.00
0.02-0.00350.00880.01-0.00-1.00

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

spot5121517.519.59500
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

spot31114.518223215K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 52K call contracts, 18K 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: BEKE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk