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

CG max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.09
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$50+1.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.6±11.4% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI4.664K puts / 765 calls
Call wall$52.5largest call OI
Put wall$42.5largest put OI
IV3038.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$168Kper 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, 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

spot50404448525660$1M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot5040455055603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CG 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

spot5040455055601111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot40444852566046%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot4045505560+$251K$251K
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
0.91-0.01400.01950.03-0.01-0.09
0.85-0.0242.50.03000.04-0.02-0.15
0.76-0.02450.04220.06-0.02-0.24
0.64-0.0347.50.05300.07-0.03-0.37
0.50-0.03500.05790.07-0.03-0.51
0.36-0.0352.50.05500.07-0.03-0.65
0.25-0.02550.04610.06-0.02-0.78
0.16-0.0257.50.03540.04-0.02-0.87
0.10-0.01600.02550.03-0.01-0.93

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

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