Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:39 AM ET

GAU max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.09
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$1.5-28.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.18±8.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.05489 puts / 10K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV3081.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$23Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$1.5-28.2%6d
Fri, Sep 18$1.5-28.2%34d
Fri, Nov 20$2-4.3%97d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5-76.1%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1.5123568$4M$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 — 1.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot1.50.51.52.57.55K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GAU 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

spot1.50.51.52.57.5111111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot0.51.52.57.5+$13K$13K
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
0.99-0.010.50.02240.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0110.11060.00-0.00-0.04
0.92-0.011.50.36840.00-0.01-0.09
0.64-0.0121.42500.00-0.01-0.38
0.19-0.012.50.67010.00-0.01-0.80
0.05-0.0150.10020.00-0.00-0.94
0.03-0.007.50.05450.00-0.00-0.95

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

spot0.51.52.57.57K0
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

spot0.51.52.57.57K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 1K 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: GAU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk