Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 7, 12:21 AM ET

FULT max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.41
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$25+2.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.45±5.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.16143 puts / 123 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3029.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25+2.4%15d
Fri, Sep 18$20-18.1%43d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5-48.8%134d
Fri, Mar 19$20-18.1%225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25151719212325$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot251522.525131131
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FULT 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

spot251522.52511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 22.51522.525+$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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.00150.00640.00-0.01-0.01
0.85-0.0122.50.12040.01-0.01-0.15
0.38-0.02250.21340.02-0.02-0.62

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

spot12.517.522.5303590
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530360360
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 609 call contracts, 179 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: FULT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk