Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 3:10 AM ET

DSGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$77.49
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$75-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.1±10.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI2.61627 puts / 240 calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3047.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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, Sep 18$75-3.2%23d
Fri, Oct 16$70-9.7%51d
Fri, Dec 18$50-35.5%114d
Fri, Mar 19$80+3.2%205d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7535547392111130$2M$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot7535557085100130222222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DSGX 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

spot75355570851001301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot45627996113130143%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 5035557085100130+$22K$22K
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
0.99-0.01350.00090.01-0.02-0.01
0.98-0.02450.00230.01-0.02-0.02
0.97-0.03500.00360.01-0.03-0.03
0.95-0.03550.00580.02-0.04-0.05
0.93-0.04600.00950.03-0.04-0.08
0.88-0.06650.01580.04-0.06-0.12
0.79-0.07700.02610.06-0.07-0.21
0.64-0.08750.03890.07-0.08-0.36
0.43-0.08800.04220.08-0.08-0.57
0.27-0.07850.03290.06-0.07-0.74
0.17-0.06900.02290.05-0.06-0.84
0.12-0.05950.01600.04-0.05-0.89
0.08-0.041000.01150.03-0.04-0.93
0.06-0.041050.00850.02-0.04-0.95
0.03-0.021200.00410.01-0.03-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot355570851001151480
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

spot35557595115229229
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 568 call contracts, 734 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: DSGX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk