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

DE max pain

Spot (delayed)$615.89
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$520-15.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$106±17.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI1.174K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$600largest call OI
Put wall$400largest put OI
IV3038.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $630
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 · 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 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

spot520175332489646803960$110M$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 — 520 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot520175290390490590700525525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DE 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

spot5201752903904905907001010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot175332489646803960117%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 630270360450540630730+$235K$235K
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
0.75-0.145500.00241.19-0.16-0.26
0.72-0.155600.00251.25-0.17-0.29
0.70-0.165700.00261.31-0.17-0.31
0.67-0.165800.00271.36-0.18-0.34
0.64-0.175900.00281.40-0.18-0.37
0.61-0.176000.00291.43-0.19-0.40
0.58-0.186100.00301.46-0.19-0.43
0.55-0.186200.00301.47-0.19-0.47
0.52-0.186300.00301.48-0.19-0.50
0.49-0.186400.00301.49-0.19-0.53
0.46-0.186500.00301.48-0.19-0.56
0.43-0.186600.00301.47-0.18-0.59
0.41-0.186700.00301.45-0.18-0.61
0.38-0.186800.00291.42-0.17-0.64
0.33-0.177000.00281.35-0.16-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 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