Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 3:10 AM ET

CYD max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.63
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$40-12.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.1±26.5% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI1.0958 puts / 53 calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3078.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$192per 1% move · flip ≈ $75

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-1.4%3d
Fri, Sep 18$45-1.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$40-12.3%94d
Fri, Dec 18$40-12.3%122d
Fri, Jan 15$25-45.2%150d
Fri, Feb 19$25-45.2%185d
Fri, Mar 19$20-56.2%213d
Fri, Apr 16$60+31.5%241d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40304254667890$1M$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4030456075905454
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CYD open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot40304560759011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot30425466789088%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 753045607590+$2K$2K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.01300.00940.04-0.01-0.09
0.83-0.02350.01540.06-0.02-0.17
0.73-0.03400.02090.08-0.03-0.28
0.60-0.03450.02450.09-0.03-0.41
0.48-0.03500.02560.09-0.03-0.53
0.37-0.03550.02440.09-0.03-0.65
0.28-0.03600.02180.08-0.03-0.74
0.20-0.02650.01840.07-0.02-0.82
0.14-0.02700.01490.05-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.01750.01160.04-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01800.00890.03-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3045607590870
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

spot17.52540557085100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 586 call contracts, 318 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: CYD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk