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

CCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.83
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$29+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.61±9.0% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI1.733K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$29largest put OI
IV3041.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$154Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $21
Earnings · expectedMon, Sep 28usually after the close

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 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

spot29162025293438$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 — 29 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot291620242832362K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CCL 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

spot291620242832368080
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot172125303438150%39%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 212024283236+$165K$165K
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
0.98-0.01220.02960.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.00230.03270.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01240.03640.01-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01250.05460.02-0.01-0.11
0.82-0.01260.07730.02-0.01-0.18
0.73-0.02270.09890.03-0.02-0.28
0.61-0.02280.11390.03-0.02-0.39
0.50-0.02290.11940.03-0.02-0.51
0.38-0.02300.11460.03-0.02-0.63
0.28-0.02310.10130.03-0.02-0.73
0.20-0.02320.08320.02-0.01-0.81
0.14-0.01330.06440.02-0.01-0.88
0.09-0.01340.04800.01-0.01-0.93
0.06-0.01350.03540.01-0.01-0.95
0.05-0.01360.02670.01-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 23 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