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

CGAU max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.81
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$12.5-42.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.5±29.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.17205 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3055.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot12.53916222935$2M$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, Jan 15

spot12.52.51015202535410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CGAU open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot12.52.51015202535232232
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot10152025303594%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2.51015202535+$7K$7K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.992.50.00150.00-0.00-0.01
0.9850.00250.01-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.00100.00770.01-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.0012.50.01370.02-0.00-0.07
0.87-0.01150.02300.03-0.01-0.13
0.79-0.0117.50.03460.04-0.01-0.21
0.67-0.01200.04460.05-0.01-0.33
0.55-0.0122.50.04940.06-0.01-0.45
0.44-0.01250.04900.06-0.01-0.56
0.27-0.01300.03980.05-0.01-0.74
0.16-0.01350.02860.03-0.01-0.86

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