Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:12 AM ET

FXB max pain

Spot (delayed)$130.09
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$132+1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.73±1.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI37.094K puts / 116 calls
Call wall$132largest call OI
Put wall$132largest put OI
IV305.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8.6Mper 1% move

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$129-0.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$132+1.5%34d
Fri, Dec 18$123-5.5%125d
Fri, Mar 19$130-0.1%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot132119124129135140145$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 — 132 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1321191241281321364K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)FXB 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

spot1321191241281321361515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12012412813213614021%5%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 5.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot119124128132136+$8.0M$8.0M
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
0.93-0.011230.02840.06-0.01-0.08
0.91-0.011240.03510.07-0.01-0.10
0.90-0.011250.04430.08-0.01-0.12
0.87-0.011260.05740.09-0.01-0.14
0.84-0.011270.07700.10-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.011280.10710.12-0.01-0.23
0.70-0.011290.15220.14-0.01-0.33
0.54-0.011300.19340.16-0.01-0.49
0.36-0.011310.16800.15-0.01-0.67
0.25-0.011320.11990.13-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.011330.08640.11-0.01-0.84
0.15-0.011340.06470.10-0.01-0.88
0.12-0.011350.05020.09-0.01-0.90
0.10-0.011360.04010.08-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.011380.02730.06-0.01-0.94

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot120124128132136145610
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

spot1151221261301341384K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 326 call contracts, 4K 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: FXB workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk