Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 6:44 PM ET

DNA max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.54
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$8+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.28±43.4% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.46548 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$9largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV3087.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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 · 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$8+6.1%2d
Fri, Sep 18$8+6.1%30d
Fri, Dec 18$8+6.1%121d
Fri, Jan 15$7-7.2%149d
Fri, Mar 19$8+6.1%212d
Fri, May 21$8+6.1%275d
Fri, Aug 20$8+6.1%366d
Fri, Nov 19$8+6.1%457d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8148111518$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8169121518542542
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DNA open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot8169121518202202
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4710121518118%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 447101316+$3K$3K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0010.00450.00-0.00-0.02
0.91-0.0040.03720.01-0.00-0.09
0.84-0.0050.05940.01-0.00-0.15
0.75-0.0060.08130.01-0.01-0.24
0.65-0.0170.09490.02-0.01-0.34
0.55-0.0180.09910.02-0.01-0.44
0.47-0.0190.09720.02-0.01-0.52
0.40-0.01100.09210.02-0.01-0.59
0.34-0.01110.08580.02-0.01-0.65
0.30-0.01120.07910.01-0.01-0.69
0.26-0.01130.07250.01-0.01-0.73
0.23-0.01140.06640.01-0.00-0.77
0.20-0.01150.06070.01-0.00-0.80

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1591317213K0
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

spot16111621323K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 4K 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: DNA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk