Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 1:10 PM ET

GRAL max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.7
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$50-27.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$54±78.6% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.431K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3070.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$39Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $25

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$70+1.9%6d
Fri, Sep 18$70+1.9%34d
Fri, Oct 16$60-12.7%62d
Fri, Jan 15$60-12.7%153d
Fri, Jan 21$50-27.2%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50204978107136165$22M$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot50204575105135165359359
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GRAL 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

spot502045751051351651414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot204978107136165100%84%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 25204575105135165+$8K$8K
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
0.88-0.01350.00250.16-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01400.00290.18-0.01-0.14
0.83-0.01450.00330.20-0.02-0.17
0.81-0.01500.00360.22-0.02-0.19
0.78-0.01550.00400.24-0.02-0.22
0.76-0.02600.00420.25-0.02-0.24
0.73-0.02650.00450.27-0.02-0.27
0.71-0.02700.00470.28-0.02-0.30
0.69-0.02750.00490.29-0.02-0.32
0.67-0.02800.00510.30-0.02-0.35
0.64-0.02850.00520.30-0.02-0.37
0.62-0.02900.00530.31-0.02-0.40
0.60-0.02950.00540.32-0.02-0.42
0.58-0.021000.00550.32-0.02-0.44
0.56-0.021050.00550.32-0.02-0.46

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot22.54570951201452K0
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

spot2.52050851201555K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 16K call contracts, 14K 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: GRAL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk