Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 2:01 PM ET

D max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.58
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$70+2.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2±2.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.353K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$72.5largest call OI
Put wall$67.5largest put OI
IV3018.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$426Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $72.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$70+2.1%4d
Fri, Sep 18$65-5.2%32d
Fri, Oct 16$65-5.2%60d
Fri, Dec 18$65-5.2%123d
Fri, Jan 15$60-12.5%151d
Fri, Mar 19$65-5.2%214d
Thu, Jun 17$72.5+5.7%304d
Fri, Jan 21$60-12.5%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot70455361697785$11M$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 — 70 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot704560657075807K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)D open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot704560657075801010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot556167737985100%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 72.5456065707580+$1.5M$1.5M
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.00450.00050.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01550.00300.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.02600.01000.00-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.0362.50.02120.01-0.03-0.03
0.92-0.04650.05460.01-0.04-0.08
0.75-0.0767.50.18490.02-0.07-0.25
0.19-0.05700.17870.02-0.05-0.83
0.05-0.0272.50.04350.01-0.02-0.97
0.02-0.01750.01550.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.0177.50.00700.00-0.01-1.00
0.01-0.01800.00370.00-0.01-1.00
0.00-0.00850.00130.00-0.01-1.00

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

spot405562.57077.5908K0
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

spot27.54052.56577.510017K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 59K call contracts, 27K 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: D workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk