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

CNQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.97
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$40-16.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.7±14.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.371K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3026.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$278Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $47.5

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$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

spot40253443526170$8M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot402532.54047.555701K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot402532.54047.55570201201
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot25344352617063%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 47.52532.54047.55570+$169K$169K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00300.00400.01-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0032.50.00650.02-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.00350.01040.03-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.0137.50.01640.04-0.01-0.09
0.87-0.01400.02480.06-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0142.50.03470.08-0.01-0.23
0.69-0.01450.04380.10-0.01-0.33
0.57-0.0147.50.04910.11-0.01-0.45
0.45-0.01500.04920.11-0.01-0.57
0.34-0.0152.50.04500.10-0.01-0.68
0.26-0.01550.03860.09-0.01-0.77
0.14-0.01600.02510.06-0.01-0.89
0.07-0.01650.01510.04-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.00700.00890.02-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 16 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