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

EPD max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.45
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$37-3.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.65±4.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.2215K puts / 70K calls
Call wall$42largest call OI
Put wall$37largest put OI
IV3016.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $37

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$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

spot37202531364247$45M$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 — 37 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3720273237424727K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EPD 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

spot37202732374247596596
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot25293438434763%16%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 16.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 37202732374247+$3.0M$3.0M
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
0.98-0.00310.01130.01-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.00320.01520.01-0.00-0.03
0.97-0.00330.02100.01-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.00340.03060.01-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.00350.04740.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01360.07860.02-0.01-0.10
0.81-0.01370.13080.03-0.01-0.19
0.66-0.01380.18920.04-0.01-0.35
0.45-0.01390.20930.04-0.01-0.56
0.26-0.01400.17460.04-0.01-0.76
0.14-0.01410.11180.03-0.01-0.90
0.09-0.01420.07090.02-0.01-0.94
0.07-0.01430.05080.02-0.01-0.96
0.06-0.01440.03910.01-0.01-0.96
0.06-0.01450.03140.01-0.01-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. 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