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

ESTC max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.77
Max pain · Fri, Dec 17$85-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$47.75±55.7% by Fri, Dec 17
Put/Call OI0.981K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3077.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$154per 1% move · flip ≈ $60

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 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 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

spot8525487194117140$6M$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 — 85 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot8525456585105125808808
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ESTC open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 17.

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, Dec 17

spot852545658510512511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spot2548719411714086%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 17

spotflip 6030557595115135+$6K$6K
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, Dec 17

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.01500.00300.20-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01550.00350.23-0.01-0.15
0.81-0.01600.00390.26-0.02-0.18
0.79-0.01650.00430.28-0.02-0.21
0.76-0.01700.00470.30-0.02-0.24
0.73-0.02750.00510.32-0.02-0.27
0.70-0.02800.00540.34-0.02-0.30
0.67-0.02850.00560.36-0.02-0.34
0.64-0.02900.00590.37-0.02-0.37
0.61-0.02950.00610.38-0.02-0.40
0.58-0.021000.00620.39-0.02-0.43
0.56-0.021050.00640.39-0.02-0.46
0.53-0.021100.00640.39-0.02-0.49
0.51-0.021150.00650.40-0.02-0.52
0.48-0.021200.00650.39-0.02-0.55

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 24 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