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

EVTL max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.85
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$2+135.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.53±61.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.352K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30122.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$942per 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+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

spot2123568$3M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot20.51.52.57.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EVTL 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

spot20.51.52.57.57575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot123568187%99%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 109.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.52.57.5+$424$424
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
0.890.000.50.33260.000.00-0.13
0.58-0.0010.65300.00-0.00-0.44
0.39-0.001.50.58620.00-0.00-0.64
0.29-0.0020.48650.00-0.00-0.75
0.23-0.002.50.40950.00-0.00-0.81
0.120.0050.22490.000.00-0.96
0.080.007.50.15520.000.00-1.00

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