Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:10 AM ET

CEG max pain

Spot (delayed)$282.67
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$280-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$27.55±9.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.1726K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$280largest call OI
Put wall$260largest put OI
IV3039.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$151Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $380

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$275-2.7%4d
Fri, Aug 28$270-4.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$270-4.5%18d
Fri, Sep 11$270-4.5%25d
Fri, Sep 18$280-0.9%32d
Fri, Sep 25$265-6.3%39d
Fri, Oct 2$270-4.5%46d
Fri, Nov 20$270-4.5%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot280125220315410505600$594M$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 — 280 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2801251752403304205104K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CEG open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot280125175240330420510766766
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot125220315410505600146%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 380165200270340410480+$2.0M$2.0M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.022100.00100.04-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.042200.00170.06-0.04-0.03
0.95-0.062300.00280.10-0.06-0.05
0.91-0.082400.00440.14-0.08-0.09
0.86-0.112500.00640.20-0.12-0.15
0.78-0.152600.00860.26-0.15-0.23
0.68-0.182700.01040.32-0.18-0.33
0.56-0.192800.01140.34-0.20-0.44
0.45-0.202900.01140.35-0.20-0.56
0.35-0.193000.01050.32-0.19-0.66
0.26-0.173100.00900.29-0.17-0.75
0.20-0.143200.00750.24-0.15-0.82
0.14-0.123300.00600.20-0.13-0.87
0.11-0.103400.00470.16-0.11-0.91
0.08-0.083500.00360.13-0.09-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 54 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot180235265287.53203703K0
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

spot12518526033042052013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 91K call contracts, 129K 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: CEG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk