Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 11:27 PM ET

ETHE max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.13
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$15-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.5±16.5% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.341K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3044.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$38Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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 14$6-60.3%1d
Fri, Aug 21$12-20.7%8d
Fri, Aug 28$13-14.1%15d
Fri, Sep 4$14-7.5%22d
Fri, Sep 11$14.5-4.2%29d
Fri, Sep 18$16+5.8%36d
Fri, Oct 16$15-0.9%64d
Fri, Dec 18$16+5.8%127d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1561218232935$5M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot1561217222733656656
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)ETHE 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

spot1561217222733127127
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot61218232935133%36%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1061217222733+$17K$17K
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
0.97-0.0070.00950.00-0.00-0.03
0.96-0.0080.01350.01-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.00100.02810.01-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.01110.04100.01-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.01120.05980.01-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.01130.08520.02-0.01-0.21
0.69-0.01140.11250.02-0.01-0.31
0.56-0.01150.12910.03-0.01-0.44
0.44-0.01160.12690.03-0.01-0.56
0.34-0.01170.11250.02-0.01-0.67
0.26-0.01180.09490.02-0.01-0.74
0.20-0.01190.07870.02-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.01200.06510.02-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.01210.05410.01-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.01220.04520.01-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 28 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot59.512.515.518.5255400
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

spot11117.52740536K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 46K call contracts, 7K 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: ETHE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk