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

DNA max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.54
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$8+6.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.5±59.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.187 puts / 39 calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$8largest put OI
IV3087.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$119per 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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

spot85811141720$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, Mar 19

spot8581113152020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DNA 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

spot8581113157070
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5811141720105%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 100.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 858111315+$71$71
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
0.80-0.0050.05530.01-0.00-0.18
0.72-0.0060.06550.02-0.00-0.25
0.57-0.0180.07340.02-0.00-0.39
0.45-0.01100.07150.02-0.00-0.50
0.40-0.01110.06900.02-0.00-0.55
0.36-0.01120.06600.02-0.00-0.59
0.33-0.01130.06280.02-0.00-0.62
0.30-0.00140.05960.02-0.00-0.65
0.27-0.00150.05650.02-0.00-0.68
0.18-0.00200.04290.01-0.00-0.78

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

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