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

DBE max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.55
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$15-52.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.2±16.5% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.035 puts / 198 calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3040.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — 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

spot15152127333945$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot15152325307979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBE open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot151523253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot15212733394559%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot15232530+$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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00150.00630.02-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.00200.01280.03-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01230.02060.03-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01240.02440.04-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.01250.02900.04-0.01-0.14
0.70-0.01290.05440.06-0.01-0.29
0.64-0.01300.05910.07-0.01-0.35
0.17-0.01450.02520.05-0.01-0.83

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

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