Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:08 AM ET

DK max pain

Spot (delayed)$67.21
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$57.5-14.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.75±14.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.29222 puts / 768 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$57.5largest put OI
IV3060.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $57.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$60-10.7%3d
Fri, Sep 18$57.5-14.4%31d
Fri, Oct 16$47.5-29.3%59d
Fri, Jan 15$50-25.6%150d
Fri, Mar 19$80+19.0%213d
Fri, May 21$32.5-51.6%276d
Fri, Aug 20$55-18.2%367d
Fri, Nov 19$60-10.7%458d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot57.5505662687480$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 — 57.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot57.5505560657075500500
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DK open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot57.5505560657075125125
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot50566268748087%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 57.5505560657075+$63K$63K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.04500.01010.03-0.04-0.08
0.89-0.0452.50.01310.04-0.04-0.11
0.86-0.05550.01670.04-0.05-0.14
0.81-0.0557.50.02090.05-0.05-0.19
0.75-0.06600.02540.06-0.06-0.24
0.68-0.0762.50.02950.07-0.07-0.31
0.60-0.07650.03230.08-0.07-0.39
0.52-0.0767.50.03340.08-0.07-0.48
0.44-0.07700.03270.08-0.07-0.56
0.37-0.0772.50.03070.07-0.07-0.63
0.31-0.07750.02790.07-0.07-0.69
0.21-0.06800.02190.06-0.06-0.78

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

spot3042.552.562.572.5903K0
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

spot1527.54052.565803K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 12K 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: DK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk