Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:21 PM ET

CCJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$99.47
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$94-5.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.45±8.5% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.65765 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$74largest put OI
IV3044.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$268Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $96

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$95-4.5%6d
Fri, Aug 28$95-4.5%13d
Fri, Sep 4$94-5.5%20d
Fri, Sep 11$98-1.5%27d
Fri, Sep 18$100+0.5%34d
Fri, Sep 25$100+0.5%41d
Fri, Oct 2$99-0.5%48d
Fri, Oct 16$95-4.5%62d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot94657993107121135$4M$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 — 94 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot9465798693100108289289
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCJ 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

spot94657986931001081212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot657993107121135105%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 9665798693100108+$103K$103K
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
0.79-0.07920.02690.07-0.07-0.21
0.76-0.08930.02900.07-0.08-0.24
0.73-0.08940.03090.08-0.09-0.28
0.69-0.09950.03260.09-0.09-0.31
0.66-0.09960.03400.09-0.09-0.34
0.62-0.10970.03520.09-0.10-0.38
0.59-0.10980.03620.09-0.10-0.42
0.55-0.10990.03680.10-0.10-0.45
0.51-0.101000.03710.10-0.10-0.49
0.48-0.101010.03710.10-0.10-0.53
0.44-0.101020.03680.10-0.10-0.56
0.41-0.101030.03630.09-0.10-0.60
0.37-0.101040.03540.09-0.10-0.64
0.34-0.091050.03430.09-0.09-0.67
0.30-0.091060.03300.08-0.09-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 41 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5585941031121553K0
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

spot2055839610916057K57K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 183K call contracts, 228K 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: CCJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk