Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:12 PM ET

ERO max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.8
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$30-11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.45±19.1% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.171K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3053.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$294Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-11.2%5d
Fri, Sep 18$30-11.2%33d
Fri, Oct 16$30-11.2%61d
Fri, Nov 20$30-11.2%96d
Fri, Dec 18$30-11.2%124d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5-33.4%152d
Fri, Mar 19$22.5-33.4%215d
Thu, Jun 17$22.5-33.4%305d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30132028354350$7M$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot3012.517.522.53040504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ERO open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 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, Oct 16

spot3012.517.522.53040504K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot132028354350125%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 3512.517.522.5304050+$155K$155K
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 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.0012.50.00080.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.00150.00170.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0017.50.00340.01-0.00-0.01
0.97-0.01200.00640.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0122.50.01150.01-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.01250.01920.02-0.01-0.10
0.74-0.02300.04000.05-0.02-0.26
0.50-0.03350.05060.06-0.03-0.51
0.29-0.02400.04240.05-0.02-0.72
0.16-0.02450.02910.04-0.02-0.86
0.09-0.01500.01860.02-0.01-0.93

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

spot12.517.522.530405018K0
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

spot12.517.522.530405036K36K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 105K call contracts, 16K 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: ERO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk