Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:57 AM ET

COST max pain

Spot (delayed)$950.15
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$915-3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$55.15±5.8% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI6.146K puts / 939 calls
Call wall$1,140largest call OI
Put wall$650largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$600Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedThu, Sep 24usually after the close

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$947.5-0.3%1d
Fri, Aug 14$945-0.5%8d
Fri, Aug 21$950-0.0%15d
Fri, Aug 28$950-0.0%22d
Fri, Sep 4$925-2.6%29d
Fri, Sep 11$915-3.7%36d
Fri, Sep 18$940-1.1%43d
Fri, Oct 16$945-0.5%71d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Sep 24)

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot91560071282493610481160$48M$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 — 915 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot91560075079582593010202K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)COST open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot91560075079582593010209898
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot6007128249361048116083%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot6307808108909551140+$254K$254K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.84-0.228800.00340.73-0.23-0.16
0.81-0.258900.00390.83-0.26-0.20
0.79-0.278950.00420.88-0.28-0.22
0.77-0.289000.00440.93-0.29-0.24
0.61-0.359300.00561.15-0.36-0.40
0.58-0.369350.00571.17-0.37-0.43
0.53-0.379450.00581.20-0.38-0.48
0.47-0.379550.00581.19-0.38-0.55
0.41-0.369650.00571.17-0.37-0.60
0.36-0.359750.00541.12-0.36-0.66
0.17-0.2410200.00360.78-0.26-0.85
0.03-0.0811300.00080.22-0.10-1.00
0.03-0.0711350.00080.21-0.10-1.00
0.03-0.0711400.00070.20-0.10-1.00
0.02-0.0611600.00060.16-0.10-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot480770885950101511503K0
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

spot480660830935102012409K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 148K call contracts, 194K 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: COST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk