Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:57 AM ET

CTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$63.37
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$60-5.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.85±9.2% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.001 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3032.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$22per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$45-29.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$60-5.3%31d
Fri, Oct 16$50-21.1%59d
Fri, Jan 15$30-52.7%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · 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

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3045556575853130
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

spot3045607590343343
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 14 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: CTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk