Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 20, 2:42 AM ET

CIGI max pain

Spot (delayed)$109.73
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$105-4.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.2±5.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.49603 puts / 404 calls
Call wall$110largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3028.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$82Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $110

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$105-4.3%1d
Fri, Sep 18$105-4.3%29d
Fri, Nov 20$115+4.8%92d
Fri, Feb 19$105-4.3%183d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105859299106113120$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 — 105 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1058595105115401401
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CIGI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot1058595105115600600
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot85929910611312094%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1108595105115+$219K$219K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.05850.00700.05-0.05-0.08
0.89-0.05900.00980.06-0.06-0.10
0.86-0.06950.01430.07-0.06-0.14
0.80-0.061000.02160.09-0.06-0.20
0.69-0.061050.03350.11-0.06-0.31
0.50-0.061100.04540.13-0.06-0.50
0.30-0.051150.03730.11-0.05-0.69
0.20-0.051200.02530.09-0.05-0.80

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

spot60901051201351559030
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

spot5080110140170200903903
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K 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: CIGI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk