Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:20 PM ET

FRVO max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.16
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$25+24.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.6±47.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.28667 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3095.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$22.5+11.6%5d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5+11.6%33d
Fri, Dec 18$25+24.0%124d
Fri, Jan 15$25+24.0%152d
Fri, Mar 19$20-0.8%215d
Fri, Apr 16$20-0.8%243d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25132232415160$5M$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2512.5203045601K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FRVO open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot2512.520304560252252
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot132232415160108%82%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 93.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 2512.520304560+$14K$14K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.0112.50.01760.03-0.01-0.14
0.81-0.01150.02370.04-0.01-0.21
0.73-0.0117.50.02870.04-0.01-0.29
0.65-0.01200.03200.05-0.01-0.38
0.57-0.0122.50.03370.05-0.02-0.46
0.50-0.02250.03390.05-0.02-0.53
0.39-0.01300.03190.05-0.02-0.65
0.30-0.01350.02840.04-0.01-0.74
0.24-0.01400.02470.04-0.01-0.81
0.19-0.01450.02140.04-0.01-0.87
0.16-0.01500.01850.03-0.01-0.91

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 11 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot517.52540557K0
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

spot2.51017.52540559K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 25K call contracts, 12K 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: FRVO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk