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

CCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.83
Max pain · Fri, Aug 28$26-9.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.23±7.7% by Fri, Aug 28
Put/Call OI0.635K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$607Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $29
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

spot26162126303540$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 — 26 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot261620242832363K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCL open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 28.

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 28

spot26162024283236485485
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spot182226303438156%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 28

spotflip 292024283236+$281K$281K
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 28

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.04220.00020.00-0.01-0.03
0.99-0.02230.02880.01-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.01240.06220.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01250.05180.01-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.01260.07990.02-0.01-0.15
0.75-0.02270.10990.02-0.02-0.25
0.62-0.03280.13100.03-0.03-0.38
0.49-0.03290.13730.03-0.03-0.52
0.36-0.03300.12810.03-0.03-0.65
0.25-0.02310.10780.02-0.02-0.76
0.16-0.02320.08310.02-0.02-0.85
0.11-0.01330.06040.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01340.04320.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.01350.03160.01-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.01360.02430.01-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 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