Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:23 AM ET

EVTL max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.85
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$1+17.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.3±35.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.09141 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$7.5largest call OI
Put wall$1.5largest put OI
IV30122.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$549per 1% move

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$1.5+76.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$1+17.6%35d
Fri, Oct 16$2+135.3%63d
Fri, Jan 15$2+135.3%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1123568$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot10.51.52.57.5769769
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EVTL 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

spot10.51.52.57.54444
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot123568356%90%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 96.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot0.511.522.57.5+$371$371
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
0.90-0.000.50.38010.00-0.00-0.11
0.43-0.0011.22270.00-0.00-0.59
0.23-0.001.50.66130.00-0.00-0.79
0.17-0.0020.45420.00-0.00-0.85
0.14-0.002.50.35440.00-0.00-0.88
0.08-0.0050.18980.000.00-0.94
0.07-0.007.50.13980.00-0.96

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

spot0.51.52.57.53K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.55K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 17K call contracts, 6K 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: EVTL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk