Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:53 PM ET

FN max pain

Spot (delayed)$570.77
Max pain · Fri, Jul 16$300-47.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$333.1±58.4% by Fri, Jul 16
Put/Call OI2.002 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$500largest call OI
Put wall$280largest put OI
IV3084.6%30-day implied vol

Event risk before this expiration: 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$530-7.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$510-10.6%34d
Fri, Oct 16$600+5.1%62d
Fri, Nov 20$540-5.4%97d
Fri, Dec 18$720+26.1%125d
Fri, Jan 15$450-21.2%153d
Fri, Apr 16$500-12.4%244d
Fri, Jul 16$300-47.4%335d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot300280324368412456500$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 — 300 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jul 16

spot30028030050011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FN open contracts per strike for Fri, Jul 16.

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, Jul 16

spot30028030050011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jul 16

spot280300500+$261$261
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, Jul 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.082800.00040.88-0.11-0.09
0.90-0.103000.00040.98-0.12-0.10
0.73-0.205000.00081.82-0.21-0.28

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

spot2503904905907008004200
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

spot210340470600730860591591
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 8K 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: FN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk