Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:08 PM ET

EXC max pain

Spot (delayed)$45.86
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$47+2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.9±2.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.202K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$47largest call OI
Put wall$47largest put OI
IV3017.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $47

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$47+2.5%6d
Fri, Sep 18$45-1.9%34d
Fri, Oct 16$46+0.3%62d
Fri, Dec 18$46+0.3%125d
Fri, Jan 15$44-4.1%153d
Fri, Mar 19$43-6.2%216d
Thu, Jun 17$45-1.9%306d
Fri, Jan 21$45-1.9%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot47394551586470$19M$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 — 47 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot4739424548554K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EXC open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot4739424548558989
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot41434546485063%11%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 17.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 473942454855+$1.4M$1.4M
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.01390.01050.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01400.01560.00-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01410.02390.00-0.01-0.03
0.96-0.01420.03850.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.02430.06610.01-0.02-0.07
0.88-0.02440.12300.01-0.02-0.12
0.75-0.03450.24380.02-0.03-0.25
0.45-0.03460.35480.03-0.03-0.55
0.20-0.03470.21290.02-0.03-0.81
0.10-0.02480.10830.01-0.02-0.91
0.06-0.01490.06060.01-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.01500.03720.01-0.01-0.97
0.01-0.01550.00700.00-0.00-0.99
0.00-0.00700.00060.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot23404346496010K0
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

spot203340455012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 34K call contracts, 18K 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: EXC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk