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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 30, 3:26 AM ET

EMA max pain

Spot (delayed)$54.02
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$55+1.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.3±6.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI2.18111 puts / 51 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3017.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55+1.8%22d
Fri, Sep 18$50-7.4%50d
Fri, Dec 18$50-7.4%141d
Fri, Mar 19$50-7.4%232d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55404448525660$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot554045505560100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMA open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot55404550556011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot404448525660123%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot4045505560+$2K$2K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00400.00140.00-0.00-0.00
1.00450.00820.01-0.00-0.01
0.99500.01480.00-0.01-0.10
0.29-0.02550.15340.05-0.02-0.73
0.01-0.00600.01400.01-1.00

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

spot455565756020
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

spot253545556575602602
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 295 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: EMA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk