Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:03 AM ET

DHC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.37
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$7.5-10.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.08±12.8% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.22359 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3049.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$7.5-10.4%7d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-10.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$5-40.3%126d
Fri, Mar 19$5-40.3%217d
Fri, Dec 17$10+19.5%490d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.5369121518$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot7.52.57.51012.517.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DHC 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

spot7.52.57.51012.517.533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot35791113509%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 130.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 7.52.57.51012.517.5+$18K$18K
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
0.99-0.012.50.00510.00-0.01-0.01
0.82-0.027.50.23820.00-0.02-0.18
0.13-0.02100.17240.00-0.01-0.87
0.05-0.0112.50.05550.00-0.01-0.95
0.02-0.0117.50.01850.00-0.01-0.98

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

spot2.57.512.517.54K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.55K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 3K 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: DHC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk