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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 11:11 PM ET

CM max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.55
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$105-11.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.45±12.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.942K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$125largest call OI
Put wall$105largest put OI
IV3021.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$69Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $62.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · 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$115-3.0%20d
Fri, Sep 18$100-15.6%48d
Fri, Dec 18$115-3.0%139d
Fri, Jan 15$105-11.4%167d
Fri, Mar 19$100-15.6%230d
Fri, Jan 21$110-7.2%538d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot105305580105130155$14M$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, Jan 15

spot1053057.572.587.51051351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CM open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1053057.572.587.510513555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot30558010513015586%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 62.535607590110140+$256K$256K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.0192.50.00650.13-0.01-0.10
0.90-0.01950.00760.15-0.01-0.11
0.88-0.0197.50.00890.16-0.01-0.13
0.85-0.011000.01030.18-0.02-0.16
0.80-0.021050.01360.22-0.02-0.21
0.73-0.021100.01710.26-0.02-0.29
0.63-0.021150.02040.30-0.02-0.38
0.53-0.021200.02260.32-0.02-0.49
0.41-0.021250.02280.31-0.02-0.61
0.31-0.021300.02100.28-0.02-0.72
0.22-0.011350.01780.24-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.011400.01420.19-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.011450.01090.15-0.01-0.93
0.08-0.011500.00830.12-0.01-0.97
0.06-0.011550.00620.09-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70901001201402K0
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

spot3057.57592.51201555K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 12K 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: CM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk