Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 4:16 PM ET

DOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.96
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$29-6.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.19±7.1% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.37991 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$39largest call OI
Put wall$24largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$105Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $23

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-3.1%4d
Fri, Aug 28$29.5-4.7%11d
Fri, Sep 4$29-6.3%18d
Fri, Sep 11$30-3.1%25d
Fri, Sep 18$30-3.1%32d
Fri, Sep 25$32+3.4%39d
Fri, Oct 2$31+0.1%46d
Fri, Oct 16$30-3.1%60d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot29202428323640$2M$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 — 29 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot292025293337779779
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DOW open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot292025293337100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot202428323640130%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 232025293337+$51K$51K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00240.00920.00-0.01-0.03
0.98-0.00250.01530.00-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.01260.02590.01-0.01-0.06
0.94-0.01270.04370.01-0.01-0.10
0.89-0.02280.07220.01-0.02-0.16
0.80-0.02290.11130.02-0.02-0.25
0.67-0.03300.15020.02-0.03-0.38
0.51-0.03310.16670.03-0.03-0.54
0.36-0.03320.15140.03-0.03-0.68
0.23-0.02330.11900.02-0.02-0.79
0.15-0.02340.08640.02-0.02-0.86
0.10-0.01350.06070.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.01360.04240.01-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.01370.02970.01-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.01380.02100.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot17.526.53033.537.55015K0
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

spot12.52428.533385552K52K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 247K call contracts, 264K 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: DOW workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk