Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 6:41 PM ET

DNN max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.31
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$3-9.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.55±16.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.06148 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$3.5largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3062.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1.5

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 14$3-9.4%2d
Fri, Aug 21$3-9.4%9d
Fri, Aug 28$2.5-24.5%16d
Fri, Sep 4$0.5-84.9%23d
Fri, Sep 11$0.5-84.9%30d
Fri, Sep 18$3-9.4%37d
Fri, Sep 25$0.5-84.9%44d
Fri, Oct 16$3.5+5.7%65d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot3112345$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 — 3 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot30.523452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DNN 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

spot30.52345366366
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot33445596%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1.51.52.53.54.5+$12K$12K
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
0.98-0.000.50.00980.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.001.50.05060.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0020.10390.00-0.00-0.07
0.87-0.002.50.22820.00-0.00-0.12
0.72-0.0030.50150.00-0.00-0.28
0.42-0.003.50.60510.00-0.00-0.57
0.23-0.0040.40980.00-0.00-0.77
0.13-0.004.50.25880.00-0.00-0.87
0.08-0.0050.16820.00-0.00-0.92

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

spot0.51.52.53.5562K0
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

spot0.523.556.556K56K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 239K call contracts, 41K 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: DNN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk