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

CNQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.97
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$45-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.33±6.9% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI1.0333 puts / 32 calls
Call wall$51largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3026.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $51

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$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

spot45394244474952$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot4539434549511717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot453943454951251251
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot39424447495248%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 513943454951+$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, Sep 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01390.01460.01-0.01-0.06
0.91-0.01420.03370.03-0.01-0.12
0.88-0.01430.04390.03-0.01-0.16
0.83-0.02440.05610.04-0.02-0.20
0.77-0.02450.06940.05-0.02-0.26
0.70-0.02460.08210.06-0.02-0.34
0.43-0.02490.09260.06-0.02-0.60
0.34-0.02500.08510.06-0.02-0.68
0.27-0.02510.07480.05-0.02-0.75
0.21-0.02520.06360.05-0.01-0.80

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

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