Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 9:06 PM ET

CCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.83
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$27-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.98±6.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.9146K puts / 51K calls
Call wall$32largest call OI
Put wall$24.5largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $30
Earnings · expectedMon, Sep 28usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$28.5-1.1%1d
Fri, Aug 14$28-2.9%8d
Fri, Aug 21$27-6.3%15d
Fri, Aug 28$26-9.8%22d
Fri, Sep 4$29+0.6%29d
Fri, Sep 11$28-2.9%36d
Fri, Sep 18$28-2.9%43d
Fri, Oct 16$28-2.9%71d← 1st expiry after earnings (Mon, Sep 28)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27152127333945$75M$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2715212528313617K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCL open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot271521252831363K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot152127333945164%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 30152225.528.531.537+$1.0M$1.0M
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0225.50.11890.01-0.01-0.08
0.90-0.01260.11460.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.0226.50.10070.01-0.02-0.16
0.79-0.02270.12390.02-0.02-0.21
0.72-0.0327.50.14440.02-0.03-0.29
0.64-0.03280.15930.02-0.03-0.36
0.56-0.0328.50.16730.02-0.03-0.45
0.47-0.03290.16780.02-0.03-0.53
0.39-0.0329.50.16130.02-0.03-0.61
0.32-0.03300.14890.02-0.03-0.69
0.25-0.0330.50.13250.02-0.03-0.76
0.20-0.02310.11400.02-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.0231.50.09540.01-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.02320.07810.01-0.01-0.90
0.07-0.01330.05130.01-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot152125.52932.53917K0
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

spot2172429354582K82K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 428K call contracts, 551K 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: CCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk