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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, Sep 18$50-7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.53±4.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.19167 puts / 902 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3017.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$73Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$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

spot50354249566370$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot5035455565402402
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMA 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

spot503545556511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot40444852566039%18%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 13.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 5035455565+$41K$41K
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
1.00350.00120.00-0.00-0.00
1.00400.00410.01-0.00-0.01
1.00450.00140.02-0.01-0.04
0.84-0.01500.06720.05-0.01-0.17
0.38-0.01550.11350.08-0.01-0.65
0.06-0.00600.03260.03-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00650.00660.01-1.00
0.000.00700.00170.00-1.00

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