Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 11:23 PM ET

DBRG max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.91
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$12-24.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.26927 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3020.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$219Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$5-68.6%3d
Fri, Aug 28$15.5-2.6%10d
Fri, Sep 4$6-62.3%17d
Fri, Sep 11$15-5.7%24d
Fri, Sep 18$13-18.3%31d
Fri, Dec 18$12-24.6%122d
Fri, Jan 15$12-24.6%150d
Fri, Mar 19$14-12.0%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot125913172125$4M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12510121416201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DBRG 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

spot125101214162011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot12141517182055%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 16.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1051012141620+$158K$158K
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
1.000.0070.00420.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.00100.01680.00-0.00-0.02
0.99-0.00110.02910.00-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.00120.04340.01-0.00-0.04
0.95-0.00130.06910.01-0.00-0.06
0.91-0.00140.12560.01-0.00-0.10
0.81-0.00150.27970.02-0.00-0.20
0.42-0.00160.64070.04-0.00-0.57
0.11-0.00170.21170.020.00-0.88
0.020.00200.02900.01-0.97
0.010.00250.00680.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 12 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot5915.517.56880
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

spot31013.51720.5275K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 7K 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: DBRG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk