Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:13 AM ET

EFXT max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.48
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$20-6.9% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 552 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
IV3045.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move

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, Aug 21$5-76.7%5d
Fri, Sep 18$20-6.9%33d
Fri, Nov 20$25+16.4%96d
Fri, Dec 18$17.5-18.5%124d
Fri, Feb 19$20-6.9%187d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20202326293235$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot2020253035250250
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EFXT 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

spot202025303511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot20232629323593%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 86.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot20253035+$7K$7K
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
0.68-0.02200.11850.02-0.02-0.34
0.17-0.01250.07230.02-0.01-0.81
0.07-0.01300.02850.01-0.01-0.91
0.04-0.01350.01550.01-0.00-0.94

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

spot2.5152025356190
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

spot2.51017.52540647647
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 10 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: EFXT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk