Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:10 PM ET

DAC max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.92
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$115-19.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14±9.9% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.0149 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$115largest put OI
IV3025.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $120

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$135-4.9%5d
Fri, Sep 18$140-1.4%33d
Fri, Oct 16$130-8.4%61d
Fri, Nov 20$115-19.0%96d
Fri, Dec 18$110-22.5%124d
Fri, Jan 15$120-15.4%152d
Fri, Feb 19$105-26.0%187d
Fri, Mar 19$100-29.5%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1156083106129152175$10M$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 — 115 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot11560851051251501703K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAC 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

spot115608510512515017011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot709111213315417587%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 1206085105125150170+$1.3M$1.3M
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
0.94-0.021000.00330.08-0.02-0.06
0.93-0.021050.00410.10-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021100.00530.12-0.02-0.09
0.89-0.031150.00680.14-0.03-0.11
0.86-0.031200.00890.16-0.03-0.14
0.82-0.031250.01160.19-0.03-0.18
0.76-0.031300.01490.23-0.03-0.24
0.59-0.041400.02180.28-0.04-0.42
0.47-0.031450.02320.29-0.04-0.53
0.36-0.031500.02190.28-0.03-0.65
0.27-0.031550.01900.25-0.03-0.74
0.20-0.031600.01560.21-0.03-0.82
0.16-0.021650.01260.18-0.03-0.87
0.12-0.021700.01010.15-0.02-0.91
0.09-0.021750.00810.13-0.02-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1051201351501657150
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

spot45751051351651953K3K
■ 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: DAC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk