Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:53 PM ET

CG max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.09
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$45-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.6±7.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.6258K puts / 94K calls
Call wall$52.5largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3038.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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, Sep 18$45-8.3%21d
Fri, Oct 16$50+1.9%49d
Fri, Dec 18$45-8.3%112d
Fri, Jan 15$52.5+6.9%140d
Fri, Mar 19$50+1.9%203d
Fri, Jan 21$45-8.3%511d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45253953678195$409M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4525354555657556K56K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CG 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

spot452535455565758K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot253953678195147%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 503040506070+$9.8M$9.8M
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
1.000.0032.50.00040.000.00-0.00
1.00-0.00350.00140.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0037.50.00410.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.01400.01100.01-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.0142.50.02620.02-0.02-0.07
0.84-0.03450.05180.03-0.03-0.17
0.67-0.0447.50.07930.04-0.04-0.33
0.45-0.04500.08900.05-0.04-0.55
0.26-0.0352.50.07270.04-0.04-0.76
0.12-0.02550.04540.02-0.02-0.90
0.05-0.0157.50.02360.01-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.01600.01100.01-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.0062.50.00480.000.00-1.00
0.00-0.00650.00210.00-1.00
0.000.0067.50.00090.00-1.00

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

spot3042.552.562.572.558K0
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

spot17.53042.55567.58558K58K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 120K call contracts, 91K 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: CG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk