Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:52 AM ET

DBA max pain

Spot (delayed)$28.14
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$27-4.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.98±3.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.30533 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$28largest call OI
Put wall$27largest put OI
IV3013.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$379Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $26

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$27-4.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$27-4.1%31d
Fri, Oct 16$25-11.2%59d
Fri, Jan 15$26-7.6%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot27192327303438$2M$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 — 27 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot271923262830382K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot27192326283038516516
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot26272828293021%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 26192326283038+$401K$401K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00190.00480.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00200.00650.00-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.00230.01960.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.00250.05100.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.00260.09240.01-0.01-0.10
0.82-0.01270.18330.02-0.01-0.18
0.59-0.01280.33490.03-0.01-0.42
0.28-0.01290.27250.03-0.01-0.74
0.14-0.01300.14600.02-0.01-0.89
0.03-0.00340.02270.01-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.00380.00700.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot1621252933388K0
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

spot1620242832369K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 59K 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: DBA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk