Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:18 AM ET

EDU max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.2
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$50-6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.53±12.3% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.92658 puts / 714 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3035.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$6Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$50-6.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$60+12.8%31d
Fri, Oct 16$50-6.0%59d
Fri, Jan 15$50-6.0%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50253749617385$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot502540557085298298
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EDU open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot5025405570857575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot30415263748597%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 35254050607080+$32K$32K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01250.00270.01-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01300.00460.02-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.02350.00780.03-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.02400.01330.04-0.02-0.11
0.82-0.02450.02310.06-0.02-0.18
0.69-0.03500.03980.08-0.03-0.32
0.45-0.03550.05260.09-0.03-0.56
0.25-0.02600.03940.07-0.02-0.77
0.16-0.02650.02560.05-0.02-0.86
0.11-0.02700.01760.04-0.02-0.91
0.08-0.01750.01290.03-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01800.00990.03-0.01-0.96
0.06-0.01850.00790.02-0.01-0.97

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

spot3040506070802K0
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

spot22.5355065802K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: EDU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk