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

DAC max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.92
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$110-22.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.4±10.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.25227 puts / 907 calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3025.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$281Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $115

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, 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

spot1106083106129152175$3M$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 — 110 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1106080100120140160452452
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAC open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot11060801001201401602121
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot608310612915217592%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1156080100120140160+$184K$184K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.021050.00410.11-0.02-0.08
0.91-0.021100.00530.13-0.02-0.10
0.89-0.021150.00690.15-0.02-0.12
0.86-0.021200.00890.19-0.02-0.15
0.81-0.031250.01140.22-0.03-0.20
0.76-0.031300.01440.26-0.03-0.26
0.68-0.031350.01760.29-0.03-0.33
0.59-0.031400.02030.32-0.03-0.43
0.48-0.031450.02140.33-0.03-0.53
0.38-0.031500.02060.31-0.03-0.63
0.29-0.031550.01840.28-0.03-0.72
0.22-0.021600.01550.25-0.02-0.79
0.17-0.021650.01270.21-0.02-0.84
0.13-0.021700.01030.18-0.02-0.89
0.10-0.011750.00830.15-0.02-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 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