Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:55 PM ET

CVE max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.58
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$17-46.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.95±18.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.3520K puts / 58K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3037.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$883Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17

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, Sep 18$25-20.8%20d
Fri, Oct 16$33+4.5%48d
Fri, Dec 18$28-11.3%111d
Fri, Jan 15$17-46.2%139d
Fri, Mar 19$24-24.0%202d
Fri, May 21$20-36.7%265d
Fri, Aug 20$25-20.8%356d
Fri, Nov 19$35+10.8%447d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1731120283745$130M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot173152429343926K26K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CVE 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

spot17315242934393737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81523303845147%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1731524293439+$180K$180K
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
0.85-0.01250.02790.04-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.01260.03240.05-0.01-0.19
0.78-0.01270.03700.06-0.01-0.23
0.74-0.01280.04130.06-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01290.04500.07-0.01-0.31
0.64-0.01300.04820.07-0.01-0.36
0.59-0.01310.05040.07-0.01-0.41
0.54-0.01320.05170.08-0.01-0.47
0.49-0.01330.05210.08-0.01-0.52
0.44-0.01340.05160.08-0.01-0.57
0.39-0.01350.05040.07-0.01-0.61
0.35-0.01360.04850.07-0.01-0.66
0.31-0.01370.04610.07-0.01-0.70
0.27-0.01380.04330.07-0.01-0.74
0.24-0.01390.04040.06-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1218232833389K0
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

spot3131925313727K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 108K call contracts, 47K 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: CVE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk