Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:59 PM ET

CEPU max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.16
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$12.5-5.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05±15.6% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI18.624K puts / 210 calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3056.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$73Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-5.0%7d
Fri, Sep 18$15+14.0%35d
Fri, Oct 16$12.5-5.0%63d
Fri, Jan 15$10-24.0%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.551015202530$3M$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot12.5512.517.5254K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CEPU open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot12.5512.517.52511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101418222630171%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot512.517.525+$72K$72K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0150.00960.01-0.01-0.04
0.84-0.01100.05180.01-0.01-0.16
0.66-0.0112.50.11520.02-0.01-0.35
0.37-0.01150.11440.02-0.01-0.64
0.24-0.0117.50.07530.02-0.01-0.77
0.15-0.0122.50.04230.01-0.01-0.86
0.13-0.01250.03460.01-0.01-0.88
0.10-0.01300.02560.01-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot101520251820
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 383 call contracts, 4K 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: CEPU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk