Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 1:31 AM ET

E max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.28
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50-9.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.73±14.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI24.515K puts / 211 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3026.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$148Kper 1% move

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$42.5-23.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$52.5-5.0%33d
Fri, Oct 16$40-27.6%61d
Fri, Nov 20$52.5-5.0%96d
Fri, Dec 18$47.5-14.1%124d
Fri, Jan 15$50-9.6%152d
Fri, Feb 19$50-9.6%187d
Fri, Apr 16$45-18.6%243d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50354249566370$3M$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, Jan 15

spot503542.55057.5652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)E 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

spot503542.55057.56555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot35424956637063%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3542.55057.565+$69K$69K
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
0.97-0.0037.50.00670.03-0.00-0.05
0.95-0.00400.00950.04-0.01-0.06
0.93-0.0142.50.01330.05-0.01-0.09
0.90-0.01450.01870.06-0.01-0.12
0.85-0.0147.50.02630.08-0.01-0.17
0.78-0.01500.03570.11-0.01-0.24
0.68-0.0152.50.04410.13-0.01-0.34
0.56-0.01550.04720.14-0.01-0.47
0.46-0.0157.50.04470.14-0.01-0.58
0.37-0.01600.03960.13-0.01-0.66
0.31-0.0162.50.03420.12-0.01-0.73
0.26-0.01650.02930.11-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.01700.02190.10-0.01-0.84

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot37.542.547.552.557.562.51K0
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

spot2030405060753K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 4K call contracts, 8K 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: E workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk