Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:31 AM ET

FMS max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.63
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$22.5-4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.3±9.7% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.4747 puts / 101 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3035.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$22.5-4.8%7d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-4.8%35d
Fri, Oct 16$22.5-4.8%63d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5-47.1%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot22.5131518202325$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 — 22.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot22.512.517.52022.5259696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FMS 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

spot22.512.517.52022.52511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131518202325373%42%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 94.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 2512.517.52022.525+$8K$8K
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
0.97-0.0212.50.00700.00-0.03-0.03
0.94-0.0417.50.02520.00-0.04-0.06
0.89-0.04200.05620.01-0.04-0.12
0.72-0.0422.50.16030.01-0.04-0.28
0.27-0.04250.16230.01-0.04-0.73

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

spot17.52022.52530353140
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

spot12.517.522.530497497
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 638 call contracts, 617 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: FMS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk