Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 10:13 PM ET

CGNT max pain

Spot (delayed)$9.13
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$10+9.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.02±11.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.17183 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3055.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10+9.5%9d
Fri, Sep 18$10+9.5%37d
Fri, Oct 16$10+9.5%65d
Fri, Nov 20$10+9.5%100d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5-17.9%128d
Fri, Jan 15$5-45.2%156d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot103610131720$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot102.57.512.517.5707707
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CGNT open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot102.57.512.517.566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot8911121415158%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 557.51012.51517.5+$15K$15K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.002.50.00260.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.0150.01480.00-0.01-0.02
0.92-0.017.50.10910.00-0.01-0.08
0.18-0.01100.31490.00-0.01-0.82
0.04-0.0112.50.05180.00-0.01-0.97
0.01-0.00150.01910.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.0017.50.00960.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00200.00570.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot2.57.512.517.52K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.55K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 439 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: CGNT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk