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

DOW max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.96
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$30-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.97±12.8% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.413K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$27.5largest put OI
IV3037.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$302Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $32.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — 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

spot30152127333945$8M$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, Oct 16

spot301522.53037.5452K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DOW open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot301522.53037.5456969
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot15212733394583%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 32.51522.53037.545+$154K$154K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00150.00010.00-0.00-0.00
1.0017.50.00050.00-0.00-0.01
1.00200.00310.00-0.00-0.02
0.98-0.0022.50.01340.01-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01250.03630.02-0.01-0.11
0.79-0.0127.50.06190.04-0.01-0.22
0.60-0.02300.07900.05-0.02-0.41
0.40-0.0132.50.07940.05-0.02-0.61
0.24-0.01350.06320.04-0.01-0.78
0.14-0.0137.50.04320.03-0.01-0.89
0.07-0.01400.02700.02-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.0042.50.01620.01-0.00-0.98
0.02-0.00450.00960.01-0.99

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