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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 6:39 PM ET

BRUN max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.67
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$22.5+14.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.75±39.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.04101 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV30146.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 7$17.5-11.0%7d
Fri, Aug 14$17-13.6%14d
Fri, Aug 21$20+1.7%21d
Fri, Aug 28$25.5+29.6%28d
Fri, Sep 4$21.5+9.3%35d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5+14.4%49d
Fri, Nov 20$20+1.7%112d
Fri, Jan 15$15-23.7%168d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5131824293540$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot22.512.517.522.530403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BRUN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot22.512.517.522.530403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot131824293540155%101%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 134.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1512.517.522.53040+$21K$21K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.0212.50.01960.01-0.02-0.13
0.80-0.03150.02820.02-0.03-0.21
0.70-0.0417.50.03510.03-0.04-0.31
0.60-0.04200.03900.03-0.04-0.41
0.51-0.0422.50.04010.03-0.04-0.50
0.43-0.04250.03920.03-0.04-0.58
0.30-0.04300.03410.03-0.04-0.71
0.21-0.03350.02790.02-0.03-0.80
0.15-0.02400.02210.02-0.03-0.86

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

spot7.5172227334015K0
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

spot2.512.51925.53238.526K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 77K call contracts, 25K 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: BRUN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk