Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 10:20 AM ET

DEI max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.68
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12+2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.25±10.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.07349 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3040.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$173Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12+2.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$12+2.7%33d
Fri, Oct 16$12.5+7.0%61d
Fri, Jan 15$12+2.7%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot127910121315$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot1271113154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DEI open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot12711131511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot101112131415203%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 107111315+$94K$94K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0170.01640.00-0.01-0.02
0.90-0.02100.12000.00-0.02-0.10
0.77-0.02110.31070.01-0.02-0.23
0.33-0.02120.50680.01-0.02-0.67
0.11-0.01130.18890.00-0.01-0.89
0.06-0.01140.08810.00-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.01150.05020.00-0.01-0.97

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

spot71112.51414K0
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

spot16912.5161914K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 26K call contracts, 9K 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: DEI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk