Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 9:06 PM ET

COP max pain

Spot (delayed)$115.35
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$110-4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.08±8.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.7122K puts / 32K calls
Call wall$120largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3033.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 6usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 7$114-1.2%2d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 6)
Fri, Aug 14$114-1.2%9d
Fri, Aug 21$115-0.3%16d
Fri, Aug 28$115-0.3%23d
Fri, Sep 4$112-2.9%30d
Fri, Sep 11$110-4.6%37d
Fri, Sep 18$110-4.6%44d
Fri, Oct 16$115-0.3%72d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1104576107138169200$236M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot110457592.51201551907K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot110457592.5120155190257257
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot6088116144172200126%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 31.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1206585100130160190+$2.5M$2.5M
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00900.00260.01-0.01-0.03
0.98-0.0192.50.00460.02-0.01-0.04
0.97-0.01950.00740.03-0.02-0.06
0.94-0.0297.50.01110.04-0.02-0.08
0.91-0.031000.01520.06-0.03-0.11
0.81-0.041050.02340.11-0.04-0.20
0.67-0.051100.02930.14-0.05-0.34
0.52-0.061150.03160.16-0.06-0.49
0.36-0.051200.02960.15-0.05-0.64
0.24-0.041250.02420.13-0.04-0.77
0.15-0.041300.01800.10-0.03-0.86
0.10-0.031350.01250.07-0.02-0.92
0.06-0.021400.00840.05-0.01-0.96
0.04-0.011450.00550.03-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.011500.00360.020.00-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 38 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot70951061171281556K0
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

spot42.587.510011312615524K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 171K call contracts, 126K 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: COP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk