Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 8:55 PM ET

GLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$397.9
Max pain · Tue, Aug 25$407+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.48±2.1% by Tue, Aug 25
Put/Call OI1.87159 puts / 85 calls
Call wall$413largest call OI
Put wall$390largest put OI
IV3021.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$393Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Wed, Aug 19$399+0.3%1d
Thu, Aug 20$404+1.5%2d
Fri, Aug 21$385-3.2%3d
Mon, Aug 24$404+1.5%6d
Tue, Aug 25$407+2.3%7d
Wed, Aug 26$386-3.0%8d
Thu, Aug 27$399+0.3%9d
Fri, Aug 28$385-3.2%10d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot407388394400405411417$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 — 407 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Tue, Aug 25

spot4073883933984064104164747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GLD open contracts per strike for Tue, Aug 25.

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 · Tue, Aug 25

spot4073883933984064104165555
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Tue, Aug 25

spot38839440040541141723%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 19.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Tue, Aug 25

spot388393398406410416+$199K$199K
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 · Tue, Aug 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.79-0.223900.02650.16-0.23-0.21
0.76-0.243910.02860.17-0.24-0.24
0.73-0.253920.03060.18-0.26-0.27
0.70-0.273930.03240.19-0.27-0.30
0.67-0.283940.03400.20-0.28-0.33
0.64-0.293950.03540.21-0.29-0.37
0.60-0.303960.03650.21-0.30-0.40
0.53-0.313980.03770.22-0.31-0.48
0.45-0.314000.03730.22-0.31-0.55
0.31-0.284040.03280.20-0.28-0.69
0.28-0.274050.03120.19-0.27-0.72
0.25-0.254060.02930.18-0.26-0.75
0.23-0.244070.02740.17-0.24-0.78
0.20-0.224080.02550.16-0.23-0.80
0.18-0.214090.02360.15-0.22-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot30037038640141647014K0
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

spot200345400460520635205K205K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3.9M call contracts, 1.7M 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: GLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk