Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 3:48 AM ET

GPI max pain

Spot (delayed)$263.01
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$290+10.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$62.9±23.9% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.96162 puts / 169 calls
Call wall$310largest call OI
Put wall$270largest put OI
IV3046.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $320

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$320+21.7%7d
Fri, Sep 18$290+10.3%35d
Fri, Oct 16$310+17.9%63d
Fri, Nov 20$290+10.3%98d
Fri, Jan 15$290+10.3%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot290145216287358429500$3M$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 — 290 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2901451752403003904607979
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GPI open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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 15

spot2901451752403003904601010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot14521628735842950065%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 46.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 320145175240300390460+$27K$27K
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 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.041800.00190.30-0.05-0.10
0.89-0.041850.00210.32-0.05-0.11
0.87-0.051900.00230.35-0.06-0.12
0.81-0.062100.00320.46-0.07-0.19
0.73-0.082300.00400.56-0.09-0.27
0.68-0.082400.00440.60-0.09-0.32
0.64-0.092500.00470.64-0.09-0.36
0.58-0.092600.00500.66-0.10-0.42
0.53-0.092700.00520.68-0.10-0.47
0.48-0.092800.00520.68-0.10-0.52
0.43-0.092900.00520.67-0.09-0.57
0.39-0.093000.00510.65-0.09-0.62
0.34-0.093100.00490.63-0.08-0.67
0.30-0.083200.00470.59-0.08-0.71
0.23-0.073400.00410.52-0.07-0.79

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

spot1652603203804405101150
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

spot135185270370470600269269
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 1K 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: GPI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk