Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 9:18 AM ET

DELL max pain

Spot (delayed)$458
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$420-8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$100.6±22.0% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI1.022K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$450largest call OI
Put wall$330largest put OI
IV3095.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$298Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $240
Earnings · expectedThu, Aug 27usually after the close

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$430-6.1%1d
Fri, Aug 14$427.5-6.7%8d
Fri, Aug 21$390-14.8%15d
Fri, Aug 28$430-6.1%22d← 1st expiry after earnings (Thu, Aug 27)
Fri, Sep 4$420-8.3%29d
Fri, Sep 11$460+0.4%36d
Fri, Sep 18$330-27.9%43d
Fri, Oct 16$350-23.6%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot420220310400490580670$35M$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 — 420 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot420220305355405455520334334
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DELL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot420220305355405455520301301
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot220310400490580670122%95%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 240220305355405455530+$84K$84K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.68-0.754250.00280.48-0.76-0.32
0.66-0.774300.00290.48-0.78-0.34
0.65-0.784350.00290.49-0.79-0.35
0.63-0.794400.00300.50-0.80-0.37
0.62-0.804450.00300.51-0.81-0.39
0.60-0.814500.00300.51-0.82-0.40
0.58-0.824550.00310.52-0.83-0.42
0.57-0.834600.00310.52-0.83-0.43
0.55-0.834650.00310.53-0.84-0.45
0.54-0.844700.00310.53-0.84-0.46
0.52-0.844750.00310.53-0.84-0.48
0.51-0.844800.00310.53-0.84-0.49
0.46-0.844950.00310.53-0.84-0.54
0.45-0.835000.00310.53-0.84-0.55
0.43-0.835050.00310.52-0.83-0.57

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

spot105230310380447.55206K0
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

spot6013020034045057021K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 300K call contracts, 363K 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: DELL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk