Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:30 AM ET

DBO max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$19-8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.93±28.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.16226 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3043.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$30Kper 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$17-17.9%4d
Fri, Sep 18$21+1.4%32d
Fri, Oct 16$19-8.2%60d
Fri, Jan 15$19-8.2%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot193916222935$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1939152025301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBO open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot19391520253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot61218232935130%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 55.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3915202530+$25K$25K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.00140.02300.03-0.01-0.12
0.87-0.00150.02880.03-0.01-0.15
0.84-0.01160.03630.03-0.01-0.18
0.80-0.01170.04540.04-0.01-0.22
0.75-0.01180.05560.04-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01190.06510.04-0.01-0.33
0.62-0.01200.07140.05-0.01-0.40
0.55-0.01210.07350.05-0.01-0.47
0.48-0.01220.07200.05-0.01-0.54
0.42-0.01230.06840.05-0.01-0.59
0.37-0.01240.06370.05-0.01-0.64
0.32-0.01250.05880.05-0.01-0.68
0.28-0.01260.05390.04-0.01-0.72
0.25-0.01270.04940.04-0.01-0.75
0.23-0.01280.04520.04-0.01-0.78

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot412162024282K0
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

spot39152127332K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 7K call contracts, 2K 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: DBO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk