Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:11 PM ET

CNQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.97
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$42.5-11.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.48±3.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.394K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$37.5largest put OI
IV3026.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $42.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42.5-11.4%4d
Fri, Aug 28$45-6.2%11d
Fri, Sep 4$45-6.2%18d
Fri, Sep 11$45-6.2%25d
Fri, Sep 18$45-6.2%32d
Fri, Sep 25$45-6.2%39d
Fri, Oct 16$50+4.2%60d
Fri, Dec 18$40-16.6%123d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot42.5283543505865$20M$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 — 42.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot42.527.53942.54649.5552K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot42.527.53942.54649.5558787
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot353943485256109%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 27.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 42.532.539.54346.55056+$588K$588K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0244.50.05140.01-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.02450.06780.01-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.0345.50.09000.01-0.03-0.11
0.85-0.03460.11930.02-0.03-0.15
0.79-0.0446.50.15550.02-0.04-0.21
0.71-0.04470.19400.02-0.04-0.29
0.61-0.0547.50.22360.03-0.05-0.40
0.50-0.05480.23130.03-0.05-0.51
0.39-0.0548.50.21520.03-0.05-0.62
0.30-0.05490.18530.02-0.05-0.71
0.23-0.0449.50.15270.02-0.04-0.78
0.17-0.04500.12320.02-0.04-0.84
0.11-0.03510.07910.01-0.03-0.90
0.07-0.02520.05150.01-0.02-0.94
0.06-0.0252.50.04200.01-0.02-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3542.545.548.552.5652K0
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

spot1532.53943.5485424K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 99K call contracts, 38K 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: CNQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk