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

DAO max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.14
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$12.5-31.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.78±37.3% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.4985 puts / 172 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3081.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

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$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

spot12.581013151820$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, Nov 20

spot12.57.51012.51517.5209696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAO 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

spot12.57.51012.51517.52055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot81013151820102%79%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 17.57.51012.51517.520+$2K$2K
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
0.97-0.017.50.01200.01-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01100.02150.01-0.01-0.09
0.84-0.0112.50.03330.02-0.01-0.16
0.73-0.01150.04600.03-0.01-0.26
0.59-0.0117.50.05380.04-0.01-0.39
0.46-0.01200.05330.04-0.01-0.51

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