Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 20, 3:31 AM ET

FAST max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.55
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$45-12.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.4±2.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.739K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$50largest call OI
Put wall$42.5largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.2Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-12.7%1d
Fri, Sep 18$47.5-7.9%29d
Fri, Nov 20$50-3.0%92d
Fri, Dec 18$45-12.7%120d
Fri, Jan 15$45-12.7%148d
Fri, Feb 19$50-3.0%183d
Fri, Mar 19$47.5-7.9%211d
Thu, Jun 17$52.5+1.8%301d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45253341495765$18M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot452532.54047.555654K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FAST 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

spot452532.54047.555655757
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot404550556065192%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 452532.54047.55565+$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
1.00350.00040.00-0.00-0.00
1.0037.50.00070.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.00400.00130.00-0.00-0.00
1.00-0.0042.50.00270.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01450.00700.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.0147.50.02440.00-0.01-0.02
0.89-0.05500.15100.01-0.05-0.11
0.20-0.0852.50.23950.01-0.09-0.81
0.04-0.03550.04520.00-0.03-0.97
0.01-0.0157.50.01380.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.01600.00550.00-0.01-1.00
0.00-0.00650.00140.00-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 16 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot304047.5556510K0
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

spot17.5253542.552.57516K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 57K call contracts, 24K 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: FAST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk