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

DNN max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.31
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$0.5-84.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.68±20.4% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 938 calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
IV3062.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$242per 1% move

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

spot0.5112234$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot0.50.511.533.5843843
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DNN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot0.50.511.533.56060
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot0.511.533.5+$96$96
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.000.50.01040.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0010.02640.00-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.001.50.05390.00-0.00-0.05
0.70-0.0030.45900.00-0.00-0.29
0.44-0.003.50.54500.01-0.00-0.56

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