Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 11:09 PM ET

DAKT max pain

Spot (delayed)$19.3
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$12.5-35.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.95±15.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.0021 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$22.5largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3049.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$172Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedWed, Sep 9usually after the close

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 18$20+3.6%20d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Sep 9)
Fri, Oct 16$12.5-35.2%48d
Fri, Jan 15$15-22.3%139d
Fri, Apr 16$30+55.4%230d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.5101622283440$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot12.510152025355K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAKT open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot12.5101520253522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101622283440130%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1015202535+$166K$166K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01100.01070.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.0112.50.02100.01-0.01-0.08
0.86-0.01150.04090.02-0.01-0.14
0.73-0.0117.50.07710.02-0.01-0.28
0.50-0.01200.10940.03-0.02-0.52
0.28-0.0122.50.08760.02-0.01-0.75
0.17-0.01250.05750.02-0.01-0.87
0.08-0.01300.02790.01-0.01-0.96
0.05-0.01350.01630.01-0.01-0.98
0.03-0.01400.01080.01-0.00-0.99

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

spot512.517.522.530405K0
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

spot2.51017.525405K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 72 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: DAKT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk