Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:11 PM ET

ESTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.77
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$50-41.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$25.25±29.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.08915 puts / 12K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3077.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$619Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$55-35.9%7d
Fri, Sep 18$70-18.4%35d
Fri, Nov 20$50-41.7%98d
Fri, Dec 18$50-41.7%126d
Fri, Jan 15$60-30.0%154d
Fri, Feb 19$65-24.2%189d
Thu, Jun 17$55-35.9%307d
Fri, Dec 17$85-0.9%490d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot502340587593110$52M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5022.540608010010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ESTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot5022.54060801003030
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot2340587593110174%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2522.5406080100+$552K$552K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02500.00380.07-0.03-0.08
0.89-0.03550.00490.08-0.03-0.11
0.85-0.04600.00620.10-0.04-0.14
0.81-0.04650.00750.12-0.05-0.18
0.76-0.05700.00890.14-0.05-0.23
0.71-0.05750.01010.15-0.06-0.29
0.65-0.06800.01100.17-0.06-0.35
0.59-0.06850.01170.17-0.06-0.41
0.53-0.06900.01200.18-0.06-0.47
0.47-0.06950.01200.18-0.06-0.52
0.42-0.061000.01180.17-0.06-0.57
0.38-0.061050.01140.17-0.06-0.62
0.33-0.061100.01080.16-0.06-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot254055708510011K0
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

spot22.5508011014017013K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 51K call contracts, 11K 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: ESTC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk