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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, Mar 19$50-7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.85±12.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 24 calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
IV3017.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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 · 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$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

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

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, Mar 19

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