Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 2:38 AM ET

CLB max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.18
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$12.5+11.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.08±36.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.204 puts / 20 calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3056.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154per 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$10-10.6%14d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5+11.8%42d
Fri, Dec 18$10-10.6%133d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5+11.8%224d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.5101315182023$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot12.51012.51517.52022.51111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CLB open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot12.51012.51517.52022.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot10131518202371%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 12.51012.51517.52022.5+$136$136
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.71-0.00100.06900.03-0.00-0.30
0.49-0.0012.50.09910.04-0.00-0.54
0.32-0.00150.08200.03-0.00-0.72
0.24-0.0017.50.06260.03-0.00-0.81
0.20-0.00200.05000.02-0.00-0.86
0.17-0.0022.50.04160.02-0.00-0.89

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

spot510152025354130
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530424424
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 171 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: CLB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk