Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:44 AM ET

CMCL max pain

Spot (delayed)$22.74
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$17.5-23.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.95±13.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.47250 puts / 536 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3055.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$20-12.0%7d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5-23.0%35d
Fri, Dec 18$20-12.0%126d
Fri, Mar 19$20-12.0%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.5132028354350$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot17.512.517.522.5304050202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMCL 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

spot17.512.517.522.530405055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot132028354350157%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 52.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 17.512.517.522.5304050+$7K$7K
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
1.0012.50.00120.00-0.00-0.01
0.990.00150.00920.00-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0117.50.03300.01-0.01-0.07
0.80-0.01200.07260.02-0.01-0.20
0.56-0.0222.50.10280.03-0.02-0.44
0.33-0.02250.08990.03-0.02-0.68
0.11-0.01300.03990.01-0.01-0.90
0.04-0.01350.01690.01-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.00400.00800.00-0.99
0.01-0.00450.00420.00-1.00
0.01-0.00500.00240.00-1.00

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

spot12.517.522.53040503290
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

spot2.51017.52540583583
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 870 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: CMCL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk