Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 8:14 AM ET

CHDN max pain

Spot (delayed)$90.82
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$85-6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16±17.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.24314 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3031.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$104Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $70

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$80-11.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$90-0.9%32d
Fri, Dec 18$85-6.4%123d
Fri, Mar 19$75-17.4%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot85456993117141165$7M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot85456585105125150608608
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CHDN open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot8545658510512515011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot45699311714116575%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 70456585105125150+$53K$53K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01550.00290.04-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01600.00430.06-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01650.00620.08-0.01-0.08
0.88-0.02700.00880.10-0.02-0.12
0.82-0.02750.01200.13-0.02-0.18
0.75-0.03800.01560.17-0.03-0.25
0.66-0.03850.01870.19-0.03-0.34
0.56-0.03900.02060.21-0.03-0.44
0.46-0.03950.02080.21-0.03-0.54
0.37-0.031000.01960.20-0.03-0.63
0.29-0.031050.01740.18-0.03-0.71
0.23-0.021100.01500.16-0.02-0.77
0.18-0.021150.01270.14-0.02-0.82
0.14-0.021200.01060.12-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.021250.00890.10-0.02-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4565851051251503K0
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

spot45709512014517031K31K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 36K 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: CHDN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk