Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:10 PM ET

DAVE max pain

Spot (delayed)$333.14
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$290-12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$56.15±16.9% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI1.002 puts / 2 calls
Call wall$210largest call OI
Put wall$290largest put OI
IV3058.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$233per 1% move · flip ≈ $290

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$320-3.9%3d
Fri, Aug 28$365+9.6%10d
Fri, Sep 4$345+3.6%17d
Fri, Sep 11$305-8.4%24d
Fri, Sep 18$310-6.9%31d
Fri, Sep 25$290-12.9%38d
Fri, Oct 2$290-12.9%45d
Fri, Oct 16$270-19.0%59d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290210238266294322350$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot29021029029535011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DAVE open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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 2

spot29021029029535011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot21023826629432235075%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 290210290295350+$622$622
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 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.052100.00080.09-0.07-0.03
0.77-0.232900.00410.35-0.24-0.23
0.75-0.252950.00440.37-0.25-0.25
0.46-0.313500.00560.46-0.31-0.55

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

spot170270327.53654304851K0
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

spot201602203203804704K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 14K 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: DAVE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk