Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:22 AM ET

BRR max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.87
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$1.5-19.8% vs spot
Put/Call OI1.16362 puts / 313 calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV30151.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$412per 1% move · flip ≈ $1

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$1.5-19.8%4d
Fri, Aug 28$1-46.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$1.5-19.8%18d
Fri, Sep 11$1.5-19.8%25d
Fri, Sep 18$1.5-19.8%32d
Fri, Nov 20$1-46.5%95d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5+33.7%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5112334$1M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot1.50.51.52.54279279
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BRR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot1.50.51.52.5411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 111.522.534+$738$738
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.000.50.04860.00-0.00-0.03
0.90-0.0110.17040.00-0.01-0.10
0.74-0.011.50.46400.00-0.01-0.25
0.40-0.0120.75650.00-0.01-0.59
0.18-0.002.50.46470.00-0.00-0.80
0.12-0.0030.28590.00-0.00-0.87
0.07-0.0040.15270.00-0.00-0.92

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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.514K0
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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.518K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 67K call contracts, 7K 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: BRR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk