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

EDU max pain

Spot (delayed)$53.2
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$50-6.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.65±20.0% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.69538 puts / 785 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3035.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$18Kper 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 · 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$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

spot50233548607385$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, Jan 15

spot5022.535506580344344
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EDU 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

spot5022.5355065801313
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot23354860738596%38%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 3522.535506580+$24K$24K
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
0.98-0.0022.50.00230.02-0.01-0.03
0.97-0.00250.00300.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01300.00520.04-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01350.00840.06-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01400.01310.08-0.01-0.15
0.77-0.01450.01920.10-0.02-0.24
0.66-0.02500.02580.13-0.02-0.35
0.52-0.02550.02960.14-0.02-0.50
0.38-0.02600.02850.13-0.02-0.64
0.28-0.01650.02430.11-0.01-0.74
0.21-0.01700.01970.10-0.01-0.81
0.16-0.01750.01600.08-0.01-0.86
0.13-0.01800.01300.07-0.01-0.90
0.11-0.01850.01080.06-0.01-0.93

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