Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 6:13 AM ET

FMX max pain

Spot (delayed)$118.27
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$120+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8±6.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 23 calls
Call wall$135largest call OI
IV3024.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$9Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$120+1.5%6d
Fri, Sep 18$120+1.5%34d
Fri, Oct 16$120+1.5%62d
Fri, Jan 15$135+14.1%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot120120123126129132135$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1201201251301351010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FMX 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

spot12012012513013511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12012312612913213539%28%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot120125130135+$4K$4K
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
0.45-0.051200.04420.14-0.05-0.56
0.28-0.051250.03340.12-0.05-0.73
0.19-0.051300.02290.10-0.05-0.81
0.15-0.051350.01650.09-0.05-0.86

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

spot1201251301351406060
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

spot90105120135150165706706
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 98 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: FMX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk