Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 5:49 PM ET

BULL max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.14
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$7.5-7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.72±21.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.172K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3066.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$101Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$7.5-7.8%4d
Fri, Aug 28$7-14.0%11d
Fri, Sep 4$7.5-7.8%18d
Fri, Sep 11$7-14.0%25d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-7.8%32d
Fri, Sep 25$6.5-20.1%39d
Fri, Oct 2$7.5-7.8%46d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-7.8%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.5358101315$8M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot7.52.557.51012.5156K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)BULL 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

spot7.52.557.51012.515112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot358101315144%65%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 7.52.557.51012.515+$59K$59K
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
0.990.002.50.00500.00-0.00-0.01
0.94-0.0050.03890.00-0.00-0.05
0.68-0.017.50.16460.01-0.01-0.32
0.28-0.01100.14970.01-0.01-0.73
0.10-0.0012.50.07200.01-0.00-0.91
0.04-0.00150.03210.00-0.00-0.98

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

spot1.546.5911.51539K0
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

spot1.54.57.510.51430210K210K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 787K call contracts, 121K 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: BULL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk