Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:08 PM ET

CAAP max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.84
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-39.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.83±23.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.4656 puts / 121 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3049.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$736per 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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$25+0.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-9.4%36d
Fri, Oct 16$20-19.5%64d
Fri, Jan 15$15-39.6%155d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15131722263135$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1512.517.522.5308787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CAAP open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1512.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13172226313592%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1512.517.522.530+$645$645
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0012.50.00710.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.00150.01260.02-0.00-0.07
0.89-0.0017.50.02100.03-0.01-0.11
0.82-0.01200.03220.04-0.01-0.19
0.72-0.0122.50.04480.06-0.01-0.29
0.59-0.01250.05470.06-0.01-0.43
0.33-0.01300.05350.06-0.01-0.71
0.16-0.01350.03550.04-0.01-0.91

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

spot1522.530403000
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

spot12.517.522.53040319319
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 936 call contracts, 757 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: CAAP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk