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

CMPX max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.25
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$1-55.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.65±162.2% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.03143 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV30123.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 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

spot113581012$5M$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot1135103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CMPX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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 21

spot11351033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot24681012125%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 88.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot13510+$1K$1K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.0010.03830.00-0.00-0.08
0.90-0.0020.10130.01-0.00-0.22
0.76-0.0030.14880.01-0.00-0.37
0.66-0.0040.16260.01-0.00-0.49
0.59-0.0050.16080.01-0.00-0.57
0.52-0.0070.14910.01-0.00-0.68
0.46-0.00100.13420.01-0.00-0.77
0.43-0.00120.12690.01-0.00-0.82

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

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