Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 10:04 AM ET

CMPS max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.22
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7-50.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.63±46.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.052K puts / 44K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3068.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$318Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: 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$11-22.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$12-15.6%36d
Fri, Nov 20$10-29.7%99d
Fri, Jan 15$7-50.8%155d
Fri, Feb 19$7-50.8%190d
Fri, Jan 21$7-50.8%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot73813182328$58M$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot7381318232817K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMPS 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

spot73813182328309309
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3813182328213%76%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 91.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 53813182328+$159K$159K
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
0.91-0.0070.01520.01-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.0180.01960.02-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.0190.02450.02-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01100.02930.03-0.01-0.18
0.77-0.01110.03390.03-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01120.03800.03-0.01-0.27
0.68-0.01130.04130.03-0.01-0.32
0.64-0.01140.04390.04-0.01-0.36
0.59-0.01150.04560.04-0.01-0.41
0.55-0.01160.04660.04-0.01-0.45
0.51-0.01170.04700.04-0.01-0.49
0.47-0.01180.04680.04-0.01-0.53
0.44-0.01190.04630.04-0.01-0.57
0.40-0.01200.04540.04-0.01-0.60
0.37-0.01210.04430.04-0.01-0.64

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot161116212617K0
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

spot161116212622K22K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 119K call contracts, 27K 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: CMPS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk