Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:10 PM ET

EMR max pain

Spot (delayed)$164.2
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$150-8.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.85±7.2% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.029 puts / 438 calls
Call wall$172.5largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3025.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$283Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $170

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$150-8.6%6d
Fri, Aug 28$152.5-7.1%13d
Fri, Sep 4$157.5-4.1%20d
Fri, Sep 11$149-9.3%27d
Fri, Sep 18$140-14.7%34d
Fri, Sep 25$150-8.6%41d
Fri, Oct 2$160-2.6%48d
Fri, Dec 18$150-8.6%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot150140148155163170178$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 — 150 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot150140155170175423423
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EMR open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot15014015517017511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot14014815516317017836%25%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 170140155170175+$276K$276K
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.041400.00750.09-0.04-0.08
0.83-0.051500.01480.14-0.05-0.17
0.75-0.061550.02010.18-0.06-0.25
0.58-0.07162.50.02680.22-0.07-0.42
0.38-0.071700.02600.21-0.07-0.63
0.32-0.06172.50.02420.20-0.07-0.69
0.27-0.061750.02190.19-0.06-0.74
0.23-0.06177.50.01960.17-0.06-0.78

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

spot1351451551651751908540
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

spot50105129140152.51806K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 38K call contracts, 24K 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: EMR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk