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

DOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.96
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$32+3.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.13±10.1% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.23206 puts / 886 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$28largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$43Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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

spot32242730323538$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 — 32 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot32242729313335742742
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DOW 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

spot32242729313335434434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot24273032353877%35%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 35242729313335+$47K$47K
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
0.97-0.01240.01810.01-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01260.04210.01-0.01-0.11
0.87-0.01270.05960.02-0.01-0.16
0.81-0.02280.07840.03-0.02-0.22
0.72-0.02290.09500.03-0.02-0.30
0.62-0.02300.10540.04-0.02-0.40
0.51-0.02310.10790.04-0.02-0.50
0.41-0.02320.10300.04-0.02-0.61
0.31-0.02330.09270.04-0.02-0.70
0.24-0.01340.07960.03-0.01-0.78
0.18-0.01350.06590.03-0.01-0.84
0.07-0.01380.03320.01-0.01-0.94

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

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