Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 3:18 AM ET

EMBJ max pain

Spot (delayed)$75.27
Max pain · Fri, Apr 16$60-20.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$20.15±26.8% by Fri, Apr 16
Put/Call OI1.5420 puts / 13 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3034.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$346per 1% move

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, Sep 18$75-0.4%22d
Fri, Oct 16$70-7.0%50d
Fri, Nov 20$65-13.6%85d
Fri, Jan 15$50-33.6%141d
Fri, Apr 16$60-20.3%232d
Fri, Jan 21$55-26.9%512d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60606570758085$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot606075852020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMBJ open contracts per strike for Fri, Apr 16.

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, Apr 16

spot6060758511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Apr 16

spot607585+$618$618
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, Apr 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.01600.01030.16-0.01-0.18
0.60-0.02750.01580.23-0.02-0.41
0.45-0.02850.01640.24-0.02-0.58

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

spot35506580951102K0
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

spot17.5305070901103K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 13K 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: EMBJ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk