Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 3:45 AM ET

GM max pain

Spot (delayed)$89.28
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$80-10.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.28±9.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.7032K puts / 47K calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$67.5largest put OI
IV3033.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 7$85-4.8%1d
Fri, Aug 14$80-10.4%8d
Fri, Aug 21$82-8.2%15d
Fri, Aug 28$86-3.7%22d
Fri, Sep 4$82-8.2%29d
Fri, Sep 11$85-4.8%36d
Fri, Sep 18$80-10.4%43d
Fri, Dec 18$67.5-24.4%134d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot8025466788109130$194M$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 — 80 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot80254560759011011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GM 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

spot802545607590110563563
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot25466788109130131%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 903047.562.577.592.5115+$3.1M$3.1M
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
0.95-0.0172.50.00870.03-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.01750.01240.04-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.0277.50.01720.06-0.02-0.11
0.84-0.03800.02280.08-0.03-0.16
0.77-0.0482.50.02860.09-0.04-0.23
0.69-0.04850.03370.11-0.04-0.31
0.60-0.0487.50.03730.12-0.04-0.41
0.50-0.05900.03870.12-0.05-0.50
0.41-0.0492.50.03790.12-0.04-0.60
0.32-0.04950.03500.11-0.04-0.68
0.25-0.0497.50.03070.10-0.04-0.76
0.19-0.031000.02580.08-0.03-0.82
0.10-0.021050.01650.06-0.02-0.92
0.05-0.011100.00980.03-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.011150.00580.02-0.02-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot4569778492985K0
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

spot15426576879730K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 194K call contracts, 137K 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: GM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk