Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 10, 1:26 PM ET

DAO max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.14
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5-31.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.8±15.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.0734 puts / 519 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3081.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$11Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-31.1%9d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-31.1%37d
Fri, Nov 20$12.5-31.1%100d
Fri, Feb 19$10-44.9%191d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.55912161923$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.55101520294294
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAO 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

spot12.5510152011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot81114172023357%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 12.55101520+$6K$6K
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
0.99-0.0150.00240.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.027.50.00560.00-0.02-0.02
0.96-0.02100.01220.00-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.0312.50.02650.01-0.03-0.08
0.84-0.04150.05920.01-0.04-0.16
0.64-0.0517.50.11060.01-0.05-0.37
0.38-0.05200.09970.01-0.05-0.63
0.25-0.0522.50.06890.01-0.05-0.76

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

spot51015202960
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5296296
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 731 call contracts, 128 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: DAO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk