Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:58 AM ET

CASH max pain

Spot (delayed)$86.13
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$90+4.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.2±18.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.082 puts / 24 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$90largest put OI
IV3027.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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$85-1.3%7d
Fri, Sep 18$85-1.3%35d
Fri, Dec 18$70-18.7%126d
Fri, Mar 19$90+4.5%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot9055677991103115$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 — 90 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot9055901001051152020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CASH open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot90559010010511511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5567799110311547%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 905590100105115+$3K$3K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.01550.00430.09-0.01-0.07
0.51-0.02900.02050.26-0.02-0.51
0.32-0.011000.01860.24-0.02-0.72
0.26-0.011050.01630.21-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.011150.01180.17-0.01-0.90

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

spot6085951051155360
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

spot406080100120140536536
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 647 call contracts, 68 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: CASH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk