Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:14 PM ET

CLYM max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.45
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$15-14.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.33±30.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.16413 puts / 356 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30145.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$12.5-28.4%3d
Fri, Sep 18$15-14.0%31d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-57.0%59d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-85.7%94d
Fri, Dec 18$2.5-85.7%122d
Fri, Jan 15$20+14.6%150d
Fri, Feb 19$5-71.3%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15579111315$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1557.51012.515409409
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CLYM 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

spot1557.51012.5152K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.557.51012.515+$5K$5K
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
0.98-0.0150.00340.00-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.017.50.00890.01-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.02100.01850.01-0.02-0.09
0.82-0.0312.50.03160.01-0.03-0.17
0.71-0.04150.04450.02-0.04-0.29

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

spot2.5101520253K0
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: 6K 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: CLYM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk