Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:50 AM ET

GIL max pain

Spot (delayed)$55.89
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$60+7.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.28±11.2% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.88414 puts / 468 calls
Call wall$62.5largest call OI
Put wall$57.5largest put OI
IV3031.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$52.5-6.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$52.5-6.1%31d
Fri, Oct 16$60+7.4%59d
Fri, Dec 18$50-10.5%122d
Fri, Mar 19$52.5-6.1%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60505356596265$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot60505557.56062.565257257
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GIL open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot60505557.56062.56511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot50535659626537%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot505557.56062.565+$39K$39K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.02500.03230.07-0.02-0.21
0.59-0.02550.05200.09-0.03-0.42
0.46-0.0257.50.05570.09-0.02-0.56
0.33-0.02600.05100.08-0.02-0.69
0.23-0.0262.50.04160.07-0.02-0.80
0.16-0.01650.03210.06-0.02-0.87

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

spot27.547.557.567.577.58K0
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

spot27.54052.56577.51008K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 12K 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: GIL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk