Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:11 PM ET

DGII max pain

Spot (delayed)$81.03
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$55-32.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25±30.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI3.003 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3053.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8per 1% move · flip ≈ $90

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 21$65-19.8%15d
Fri, Sep 18$50-38.3%43d
Fri, Dec 18$50-38.3%134d
Fri, Mar 19$55-32.1%225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55405060708090$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot554045559011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DGII open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot554045559011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40506070809085%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 9040455590+$84$84
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00400.00240.07-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01450.00330.09-0.01-0.07
0.87-0.01550.00570.13-0.02-0.13
0.49-0.03900.01280.25-0.03-0.52

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

spot22.5405570851004320
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

spot22.5406080100432432
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 674 call contracts, 74 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: DGII workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk