Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 8, 11:06 PM ET

DQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.74
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$17+15.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.13±34.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.726K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3063.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$16+8.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$14-5.0%36d
Fri, Oct 16$20+35.7%64d
Fri, Jan 15$17+15.3%155d
Fri, Jan 21$15+1.8%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1711121304050$21M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot17110172431402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot17110172431401010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81625334250119%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 66.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 821118253242+$15K$15K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.0080.01970.01-0.00-0.09
0.88-0.0090.02560.02-0.01-0.11
0.84-0.01100.03270.02-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.01110.04040.03-0.01-0.19
0.75-0.01120.04810.03-0.01-0.24
0.69-0.01130.05450.03-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.01140.05900.04-0.01-0.36
0.56-0.01150.06130.04-0.01-0.42
0.51-0.01160.06180.04-0.01-0.48
0.46-0.01170.06070.04-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01180.05870.04-0.01-0.58
0.37-0.01190.05610.04-0.01-0.63
0.33-0.01200.05320.04-0.01-0.67
0.30-0.01210.05020.03-0.01-0.70
0.27-0.01220.04710.03-0.01-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 39 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot110162126323650
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

spot191725334214K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 40K 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: DQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk