Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:44 AM ET

GILT max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.5
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-56.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.83±68.0% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.06303 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3057.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$22Kper 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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+8.7%7d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5+8.7%35d
Fri, Dec 18$15+30.4%126d
Fri, Jan 15$10-13.0%154d
Fri, Mar 19$10-13.0%217d
Fri, Jan 21$5-56.5%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53916222935$9M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.5302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GILT open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.53055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot3916222935122%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 70.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2.57.512.517.522.530+$10K$10K
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.992.50.00460.01-0.00-0.03
0.94-0.0050.01260.02-0.00-0.08
0.87-0.007.50.02260.03-0.00-0.16
0.78-0.00100.03140.04-0.00-0.26
0.69-0.0012.50.03740.05-0.00-0.36
0.60-0.00150.04040.06-0.00-0.45
0.53-0.0017.50.04130.06-0.00-0.54
0.47-0.00200.04090.06-0.00-0.61
0.42-0.0022.50.03970.06-0.00-0.68
0.38-0.00250.03820.05-0.00-0.73
0.30-0.00300.03470.05-0.00-0.83
0.25-0.00350.03110.04-0.00-0.92

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

spot510152025352K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 5K 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: GILT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk