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

FCEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.6
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$20-7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9±41.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.322K puts / 8K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV30142.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$70Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — 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

spot2011223334455$20M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot20111202938482K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FCEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

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 18

spot2011120293848101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot11223334455442%117%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 143.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1011120293848+$15K$15K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.03150.02190.02-0.03-0.17
0.80-0.03160.02460.02-0.03-0.20
0.77-0.04170.02700.02-0.04-0.23
0.73-0.04180.02910.03-0.04-0.27
0.70-0.04190.03090.03-0.04-0.30
0.66-0.04200.03230.03-0.04-0.34
0.63-0.04210.03340.03-0.04-0.37
0.59-0.04220.03420.03-0.04-0.41
0.56-0.05230.03460.03-0.05-0.44
0.53-0.05240.03480.03-0.05-0.47
0.50-0.05250.03480.03-0.05-0.50
0.47-0.05260.03460.03-0.05-0.53
0.45-0.05270.03430.03-0.05-0.56
0.42-0.05280.03380.03-0.05-0.58
0.40-0.04290.03310.03-0.05-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 49 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

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