Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:10 AM ET

EVC max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.88
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$10+12.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.13±23.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.36415 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$12.5largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3072.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5-43.7%4d
Fri, Sep 18$10+12.6%32d
Fri, Nov 20$5-43.7%95d
Fri, Feb 19$7.5-15.5%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1081013151820$1M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot107.51012.51517.520841841
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EVC open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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, Sep 18

spot107.51012.51517.52099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot81013151820190%73%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 82.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 12.57.51012.51517.520+$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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.017.50.12330.01-0.01-0.20
0.39-0.01100.17480.01-0.01-0.62
0.18-0.0112.50.09760.01-0.01-0.83
0.11-0.01150.05820.01-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.0117.50.03860.00-0.00-0.95
0.05-0.01200.02760.00-0.00-0.97

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.59K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.514K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 49K 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: EVC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk