Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:44 AM ET

FUN max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.5
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$17.5+12.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.45±15.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.511K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3063.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$17.5+12.9%3d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5+12.9%31d
Fri, Oct 16$17.5+12.9%59d
Fri, Dec 18$20+29.0%122d
Fri, Jan 15$20+29.0%150d
Fri, Mar 19$15-3.2%213d
Fri, Jan 21$15-3.2%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17.53915212733$2M$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 — 17.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot17.52.51015202532.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FUN 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

spot17.52.51015202532.52323
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot81318232833148%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 107.512.517.522.530+$11K$11K
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
1.00-0.002.50.00100.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.007.50.00820.00-0.01-0.02
0.95-0.01100.02180.01-0.01-0.05
0.87-0.0112.50.05910.01-0.01-0.13
0.64-0.02150.12510.02-0.02-0.36
0.33-0.0217.50.12140.02-0.02-0.69
0.15-0.01200.07210.01-0.01-0.87
0.07-0.0122.50.03950.01-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.01250.02220.00-0.01-0.99
0.01-0.00300.00790.00-0.00-1.00
0.01-0.0032.50.00500.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot2.51017.52532.53K0
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

spot2.512.522.532.55016K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 35K 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: FUN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk