Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 9:13 PM ET

DBE max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.55
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$28-11.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.2±10.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 16 calls
Call wall$28largest call OI
IV3040.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move

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$27-14.4%8d
Fri, Sep 18$28-11.3%36d
Fri, Oct 16$11-65.1%64d
Fri, Dec 18$15-52.5%127d
Fri, Jan 15$38+20.4%155d
Fri, Mar 19$32+1.4%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · 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

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1115232629331550
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

spot111723293541220220
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 973 call contracts, 620 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: DBE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk