Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:40 AM ET

CMPX max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.25
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2-11.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.13±50.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.13941 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30123.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move

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$2-11.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$2-11.1%34d
Fri, Nov 20$2-11.1%97d
Fri, Dec 18$2-11.1%125d
Fri, Jan 15$2-11.1%153d
Fri, Feb 19$2-11.1%188d
Fri, Jan 21$1-55.6%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot213681113$7M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot213579124K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMPX 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

spot2135791211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot13681113342%91%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 98.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1357912+$3K$3K
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
0.94-0.0010.07060.00-0.00-0.09
0.75-0.0020.21860.01-0.00-0.29
0.54-0.0030.24500.01-0.00-0.50
0.44-0.0040.21170.01-0.00-0.61
0.38-0.0050.18530.01-0.00-0.67
0.34-0.0060.16650.01-0.00-0.71
0.31-0.0070.15250.01-0.00-0.74
0.29-0.0080.14160.01-0.00-0.77
0.28-0.0090.13290.01-0.00-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1357101211K0
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

spot0.52581118K18K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K 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: CMPX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk