Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:37 AM ET

CGAU max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.81
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$17.5-19.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.07±18.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.352K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$17.5largest put OI
IV3055.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$100Kper 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$10-54.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$2.5-88.5%31d
Fri, Oct 16$17.5-19.8%59d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-42.7%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.53916222935$9M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot17.52.510152025352K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CGAU 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

spot17.52.51015202535120120
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101520253035127%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2.51015202535+$61K$61K
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
1.002.50.00010.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.007.50.00420.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.00100.00740.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0012.50.01020.01-0.00-0.03
0.93-0.01150.02110.01-0.01-0.07
0.85-0.0117.50.04300.02-0.01-0.14
0.70-0.01200.07060.03-0.01-0.30
0.50-0.0222.50.07810.04-0.02-0.50
0.35-0.02250.06730.03-0.02-0.66
0.17-0.01300.04050.02-0.01-0.83
0.09-0.01350.02380.01-0.01-0.92

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 2K 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: CGAU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk