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

DSGX max pain

Spot (delayed)$77.49
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$50-35.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.6±20.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.2370 puts / 298 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3047.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

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, Sep 18$75-3.2%22d
Fri, Oct 16$70-9.7%50d
Fri, Dec 18$50-35.5%113d
Fri, Mar 19$80+3.2%204d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot5045597387101115$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot5045607590105103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)DSGX open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot504560759010522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4559738710111576%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 45.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 5045607590105+$12K$12K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00450.00330.04-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01500.00500.06-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01550.00720.08-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.02600.01010.10-0.02-0.15
0.79-0.02650.01330.13-0.03-0.21
0.71-0.03700.01660.15-0.03-0.29
0.61-0.03750.01920.17-0.03-0.39
0.51-0.03800.02050.17-0.03-0.49
0.41-0.03850.02040.17-0.03-0.59
0.33-0.03900.01890.16-0.03-0.68
0.25-0.03950.01670.14-0.02-0.76
0.19-0.021000.01420.12-0.02-0.83
0.15-0.021050.01180.10-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.021100.00960.08-0.01-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 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