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

DOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.96
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$30-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.85±9.2% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.9256K puts / 61K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$128Kper 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 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

spot30132232415160$131M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3012.52027.53542.55011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DOW 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

spot3012.52027.53542.550165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot132232415160147%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12.52027.53542.550+$442K$442K
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
1.0012.50.00050.00-0.00-0.00
1.00150.00010.00-0.00-0.00
1.0017.50.00040.00-0.00-0.01
1.00200.00160.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0022.50.00600.00-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.01250.02230.01-0.01-0.06
0.87-0.0127.50.06760.02-0.01-0.17
0.63-0.02300.12030.03-0.02-0.40
0.34-0.0232.50.10910.03-0.02-0.68
0.15-0.01350.06470.02-0.01-0.87
0.06-0.0137.50.03190.01-0.01-0.95
0.03-0.00400.01490.01-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.0042.50.00690.00-0.99
0.01-0.00450.00330.00-1.00
0.000.0047.50.00160.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 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