Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:07 AM ET

DOX max pain

Spot (delayed)$56.1
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$55-2.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.45±7.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI3.613K puts / 820 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3045.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$236Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55-2.0%15d
Fri, Sep 18$55-2.0%43d
Fri, Oct 16$55-2.0%71d
Fri, Jan 15$55-2.0%162d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55354453627180$5M$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot5535455565752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DOX open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot5535455565753K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot354453627180190%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3545556575+$232K$232K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.02350.00440.01-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.03400.00880.01-0.03-0.05
0.91-0.05450.01840.02-0.05-0.09
0.80-0.06500.03940.03-0.06-0.20
0.54-0.07550.06670.05-0.07-0.46
0.25-0.06600.05120.04-0.06-0.75
0.12-0.04650.02730.02-0.04-0.88
0.06-0.03700.01520.01-0.03-0.93
0.04-0.02750.00930.01-0.02-0.96
0.03-0.02800.00610.01-0.01-0.97

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

spot304560751004850
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

spot30456075906K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 9K 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: DOX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk