Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:21 PM ET

EZBC max pain

Spot (delayed)$37.14
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$38+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.18±3.2% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.075 puts / 71 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$39largest put OI
IV3033.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $37

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$38+2.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$40+7.7%32d
Fri, Dec 18$38+2.3%123d
Fri, Mar 19$29-21.9%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38353738404143$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 — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3835373941433737
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)EZBC 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

spot38353739414333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot353738404143139%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 373537394143+$5K$5K
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
0.81-0.09350.10570.01-0.09-0.19
0.72-0.09360.16310.01-0.09-0.29
0.54-0.10370.22340.02-0.09-0.47
0.34-0.09380.18650.01-0.09-0.66
0.23-0.09390.12760.01-0.09-0.77
0.17-0.09400.09030.01-0.09-0.83
0.14-0.08410.06730.01-0.08-0.86
0.11-0.08420.05240.01-0.08-0.89
0.10-0.08430.04210.01-0.08-0.90

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

spot2635404551450
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

spot2027344148554545
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 147 call contracts, 124 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: EZBC workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk