Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:00 PM ET

CTGO max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.85
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$20+0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.15±20.9% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.16923 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3065.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$127Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$17.5-11.8%7d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5-11.8%35d
Fri, Oct 16$20+0.8%63d
Fri, Jan 15$15-24.4%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2051219263340$10M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot20512.517.522.530404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CTGO open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot20512.517.522.53040102102
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot131824293540108%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 17.5512.517.522.53040+$99K$99K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.9950.00270.00-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.01100.01130.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.0112.50.02100.01-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.01150.03740.02-0.01-0.17
0.71-0.0117.50.06000.03-0.01-0.29
0.54-0.02200.07650.03-0.02-0.47
0.36-0.0122.50.07260.03-0.01-0.65
0.24-0.01250.05750.03-0.01-0.78
0.11-0.01300.03190.02-0.01-0.91
0.06-0.01350.01840.01-0.00-0.97
0.04-0.00400.01140.01-0.01-1.00

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

spot10152025354K0
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

spot2.51017.525405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 3K 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: CTGO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk