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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 11:18 PM ET

FETH max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.55
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$22+18.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.23±28.2% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.24296 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3049.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $23

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 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$19+2.4%20d
Fri, Sep 18$18-3.0%48d
Fri, Nov 20$18-3.0%111d
Fri, Dec 18$22+18.6%139d
Fri, Jan 15$16-13.7%167d
Fri, Mar 19$18-3.0%230d
Fri, Jan 21$15-19.1%538d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22101419232832$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 — 22 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot221016192225301K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FETH open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot2210161922253011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10141923283280%51%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 56.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 23101619222530+$21K$21K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.00100.01210.01-0.00-0.05
0.85-0.01140.03450.03-0.01-0.16
0.81-0.01150.04160.03-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01160.04850.04-0.01-0.26
0.70-0.01170.05480.04-0.01-0.32
0.64-0.01180.06000.04-0.01-0.38
0.58-0.01190.06350.05-0.01-0.44
0.51-0.01200.06520.05-0.01-0.51
0.45-0.01210.06510.05-0.01-0.57
0.40-0.01220.06340.04-0.01-0.63
0.35-0.01230.06060.04-0.01-0.69
0.30-0.01240.05690.04-0.01-0.74
0.26-0.01250.05280.04-0.01-0.78
0.20-0.01270.04420.03-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1020263238502K0
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

spot516253443525K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 3K 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: FETH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk