Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 3:50 AM ET

GSL max pain

Spot (delayed)$41.24
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$38-7.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.3±17.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.36139 puts / 387 calls
Call wall$42largest call OI
Put wall$36largest put OI
IV3023.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$20Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$42+1.8%8d
Fri, Sep 18$39-5.4%36d
Fri, Dec 18$38-7.9%127d
Fri, Mar 19$38-7.9%218d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot38333742465155$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 — 38 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot383336394455118118
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GSL open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot38333639445522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot33374246515534%27%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 28.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 353336394455+$10K$10K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.01340.02900.08-0.01-0.21
0.80-0.01350.03260.08-0.01-0.24
0.76-0.01360.03620.09-0.01-0.28
0.72-0.01370.03950.10-0.01-0.32
0.68-0.01380.04240.11-0.01-0.36
0.64-0.01390.04480.11-0.01-0.40
0.59-0.01400.04650.12-0.01-0.45
0.50-0.01420.04790.12-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01440.04650.12-0.01-0.62
0.37-0.01450.04500.12-0.01-0.66
0.21-0.01500.03330.09-0.00-0.81
0.12-0.00550.02160.06-0.00-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2533374145492K0
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

spot2532374247602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 4K 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: GSL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk