Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:42 AM ET

GFI max pain

Spot (delayed)$39.53
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$35-11.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.08±12.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.525K puts / 9K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3054.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$401Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$35-11.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$35-11.5%35d
Fri, Oct 16$65+64.4%63d
Fri, Jan 15$50+26.5%154d
Fri, Mar 19$20-49.4%217d
Fri, Jan 21$30-24.1%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35203040506070$24M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot352025354555653K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GFI 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

spot35202535455565582582
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot203040506070189%44%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 49.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 35202535455565+$226K$226K
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
1.00-0.02200.00140.00-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.0222.50.00270.00-0.00-0.01
1.00-0.02250.00530.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.01300.02090.01-0.01-0.07
0.80-0.03350.04980.03-0.03-0.24
0.48-0.04400.06360.05-0.04-0.54
0.25-0.03450.04440.04-0.03-0.75
0.14-0.02500.02690.03-0.02-0.86
0.08-0.02550.01660.02-0.01-0.91
0.05-0.01600.01070.01-0.01-0.94
0.03-0.01650.00730.01-0.00-0.95
0.02-0.01700.00520.01-0.96

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

spot20304050607011K0
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

spot17.52540557011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K 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: GFI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk