Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 29, 1:51 AM ET

FSV max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.54
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$135-4.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.03±5.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.1735 puts / 30 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3026.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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, Sep 18$135-4.6%21d
Fri, Nov 20$85-39.9%84d
Fri, Feb 19$160+13.0%175d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot135110118126134142150$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 — 135 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1351101151301351451502525
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FSV 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

spot13511011513013514515011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot110118126134142150102%17%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 145110115130135145150+$10K$10K
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
0.94-0.071100.00500.04-0.07-0.06
0.92-0.071150.00670.05-0.07-0.08
0.82-0.091300.01900.09-0.09-0.18
0.73-0.091350.02890.11-0.09-0.27
0.37-0.091450.04010.13-0.09-0.63
0.24-0.081500.02820.10-0.08-0.76

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

spot851301451601751954100
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

spot85105125145165185410410
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 607 call contracts, 446 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: FSV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk