Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:20 PM ET

GSM max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.39
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$4-8.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.75±17.1% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.616K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$4largest put OI
IV3070.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$29Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$4-8.9%6d
Fri, Sep 18$4-8.9%34d
Fri, Dec 18$4-8.9%125d
Fri, Jan 15$4-8.9%153d
Fri, Mar 19$5+13.9%216d
Fri, Jan 21$4-8.9%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot43467910$5M$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 — 4 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot435799K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GSM 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

spot4357911
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot4568910211%54%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 81.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 43579+$63K$63K
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
0.89-0.0130.11420.00-0.01-0.12
0.72-0.0140.32860.01-0.01-0.29
0.35-0.0150.36840.01-0.01-0.67
0.20-0.0160.21240.00-0.01-0.83
0.13-0.0170.13930.00-0.01-0.89
0.10-0.0080.10010.00-0.00-0.93
0.08-0.0090.07630.00-0.00-0.95
0.06-0.00100.06040.00-0.00-0.96

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

spot13571012K0
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

spot1357914K14K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 19K call contracts, 7K 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: GSM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk