Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:11 PM ET

DMLP max pain

Spot (delayed)$27.71
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$30+8.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.55±12.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI2.01778 puts / 388 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3020.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$18Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-9.8%5d
Fri, Sep 18$25-9.8%33d
Fri, Nov 20$30+8.3%96d
Fri, Feb 19$35+26.3%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152025303540$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot3015202535418418
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DMLP open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot301520253533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15202530354076%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot15202535+$27K$27K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.00150.00470.01-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.0017.50.00850.01-0.00-0.05
0.95-0.00200.01610.01-0.01-0.08
0.92-0.0022.50.03280.02-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01250.07520.03-0.01-0.26
0.25-0.01300.11380.04-0.00-0.81
0.07-0.00350.03340.02-0.00-0.93
0.04-0.00400.01510.01-0.00-0.96

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

spot152025355470
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

spot12.517.522.53040953953
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 877 call contracts, 2K 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: DMLP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk