Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 10:37 PM ET

EPD max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.45
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$38-1.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.03±2.7% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.07364 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$36largest put OI
IV3016.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.4Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $38

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$38-1.2%3d
Fri, Aug 28$38-1.2%10d
Fri, Sep 4$38-1.2%17d
Fri, Sep 11$38-1.2%24d
Fri, Sep 18$37-3.8%31d
Fri, Sep 25$38-1.2%38d
Fri, Oct 2$39+1.4%45d
Fri, Dec 18$35-9.0%122d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38343740424548$4M$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 — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot3834363840424K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EPD open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot383436384042372372
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot34363739404237%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 14.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 383436384042+$996K$996K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00340.02370.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.01350.03830.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01360.06900.01-0.01-0.07
0.86-0.01370.13710.02-0.01-0.14
0.69-0.01380.24290.03-0.01-0.32
0.42-0.01390.27900.03-0.02-0.59
0.19-0.01400.18880.02-0.01-0.83
0.10-0.01410.10220.02-0.01-0.92
0.07-0.01420.06550.01-0.01-0.94
0.04-0.01480.01760.01-0.01-0.97

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

spot203034.538.541.5486K0
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

spot152633.537.541.54856K56K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 188K call contracts, 42K 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: EPD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk