Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 2, 3:20 AM ET

FCEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.6
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$23+6.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.65±40.0% by Fri, Sep 11
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV30142.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$39per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$22+1.9%5d
Fri, Aug 14$20-7.4%12d
Fri, Aug 21$19-12.0%19d
Fri, Aug 28$22+1.9%26d
Fri, Sep 4$22+1.9%33d
Fri, Sep 11$23+6.5%40d
Fri, Sep 18$20-7.4%47d
Fri, Oct 16$17-21.3%75d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

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 11

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1142024.530394K0
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

spot11017.524324010K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 102K call contracts, 43K 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: FCEL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk