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

CTGO max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.85
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-24.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.05±35.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.782K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3065.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$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

spot15101622283440$4M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1510152025351K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CTGO 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

spot1510152025351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101622283440109%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 68.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 251015202535+$17K$17K
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
0.94-0.00100.01260.01-0.00-0.06
0.87-0.0112.50.02200.03-0.01-0.12
0.78-0.01150.03230.04-0.01-0.21
0.68-0.0117.50.04060.04-0.01-0.31
0.56-0.01200.04520.05-0.01-0.43
0.46-0.0122.50.04590.05-0.01-0.54
0.36-0.01250.04360.05-0.01-0.63
0.22-0.01300.03460.04-0.01-0.78
0.13-0.01350.02490.03-0.00-0.87
0.08-0.00400.01720.02-0.00-0.93

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