Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 3:22 AM ET

EU max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.37
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1.5+9.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.95±69.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.122K puts / 21K calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3083.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move

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$1.5+9.7%8d
Fri, Sep 18$1.5+9.7%36d
Fri, Oct 16$1.5+9.7%64d
Fri, Jan 15$1.5+9.7%155d
Fri, Jan 21$1-26.9%526d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5123467$8M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.5356K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EU open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot1.50.51.5359090
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123467285%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.535+$3K$3K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.940.000.50.09540.000.00-0.06
0.79-0.0010.33200.00-0.00-0.20
0.54-0.001.50.54480.00-0.00-0.45
0.35-0.0020.47540.00-0.00-0.65
0.20-0.0030.30610.00-0.00-0.81
0.15-0.0040.22130.000.00-0.87
0.11-0.0050.17350.000.00-0.92
0.08-0.0070.12180.00-0.97

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

spot0.51.53572K0
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

spot0.51.535725K25K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 77K call contracts, 5K 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: EU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk