Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:01 AM ET

DE max pain

Spot (delayed)$615.89
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$620+0.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$59.4±9.6% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI1.48160 puts / 108 calls
Call wall$670largest call OI
Put wall$530largest put OI
IV3038.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$109Kper 1% move
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 13usually before the open

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$590-4.2%1d
Fri, Aug 14$605-1.8%8d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 13)
Fri, Aug 21$600-2.6%15d
Fri, Aug 28$620+0.7%22d
Fri, Sep 4$650+5.5%29d
Fri, Sep 11$620+0.7%36d
Fri, Sep 18$580-5.8%43d
Fri, Dec 18$520-15.6%134d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot620490556622688754820$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 — 620 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot6204905606106506908104545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DE open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot6204905606106506908104646
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot49055662268875482059%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot490560610650690810+$43K$43K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.205300.00240.38-0.21-0.12
0.83-0.265500.00330.50-0.27-0.18
0.79-0.295600.00370.56-0.30-0.21
0.70-0.355800.00460.68-0.36-0.30
0.66-0.375900.00490.72-0.38-0.35
0.60-0.396000.00520.75-0.39-0.40
0.55-0.406100.00530.77-0.40-0.45
0.50-0.406200.00540.78-0.41-0.51
0.45-0.396300.00540.77-0.40-0.56
0.40-0.386400.00520.75-0.39-0.61
0.35-0.376500.00500.72-0.37-0.66
0.30-0.346600.00470.68-0.35-0.71
0.26-0.326700.00440.63-0.33-0.75
0.22-0.296800.00400.58-0.30-0.79
0.19-0.276900.00360.53-0.27-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3105105906256707304590
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

spot2103604805706407603K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 30K call contracts, 30K 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: DE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk