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

EPD max pain

Spot (delayed)$38.45
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$39+1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.82±4.7% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.6522 puts / 34 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$37largest put OI
IV3016.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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 — 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

spot39343537384041$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 — 39 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot39343638402020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EPD open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot39343638404040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot34353738404122%15%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 15.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 4034363840+$5K$5K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.00340.03420.02-0.00-0.06
0.92-0.00350.05160.02-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.01360.08020.03-0.01-0.13
0.78-0.01370.12030.04-0.01-0.22
0.64-0.01380.15940.05-0.01-0.36
0.48-0.01390.17550.06-0.01-0.54
0.31-0.01400.15780.05-0.01-0.72
0.18-0.01410.11610.04-0.01-0.86

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