Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 7:27 AM ET

GOSS max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.16
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$0.5+221.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.37±237.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.11236 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV3051.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$101per 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$0.5+221.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$0.5+221.3%33d
Fri, Nov 20$0.5+221.3%96d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5+221.3%152d
Fri, Feb 19$0.5+221.3%187d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5+221.3%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112233$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot0.50.511.532K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GOSS open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot0.50.511.5311
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Greeks by strike · Fri, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.220.000.52.12390.000.00-0.83
0.120.0011.19350.000.00-0.95
0.080.001.50.82760.00-0.99
0.040.0030.41720.00-1.00

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

spot0.51.53574K0
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

spot0.51.535721K21K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 62K 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: GOSS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk