Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:10 AM ET

CPER max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.77
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$33-17.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.05±15.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.176K puts / 38K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$36largest put OI
IV3027.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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$38-4.5%3d
Fri, Sep 18$38-4.5%31d
Fri, Oct 16$37-7.0%59d
Fri, Jan 15$33-17.0%150d
Thu, Jun 17$37-7.0%303d
Fri, Jul 16$45+13.2%332d
Fri, Aug 20$39-1.9%367d
Fri, Jan 21$27-32.1%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot33192735445260$60M$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 — 33 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3319253137435010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CPER open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot33192531374350264264
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot19273544526063%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 29.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 20192531374350+$526K$526K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.00330.02520.05-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.01340.02970.06-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.01350.03460.07-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01360.03940.08-0.01-0.23
0.73-0.01370.04400.09-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01380.04780.09-0.01-0.32
0.64-0.01390.05070.10-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.01400.05250.10-0.01-0.43
0.53-0.01410.05310.10-0.01-0.49
0.48-0.01420.05260.10-0.01-0.54
0.43-0.01430.05130.10-0.01-0.59
0.39-0.01440.04930.10-0.01-0.64
0.35-0.01450.04680.10-0.01-0.69
0.31-0.01460.04410.09-0.01-0.72
0.25-0.01480.03840.08-0.01-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2532364044486K0
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

spot19263340475412K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 84K call contracts, 18K 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: CPER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk