Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 28, 3:53 AM ET

GVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$124.71
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$145+16.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.75±21.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.9110 puts / 11 calls
Call wall$145largest call OI
Put wall$85largest put OI
IV3032.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$776per 1% move · flip ≈ $145

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, Sep 18$120-3.8%21d
Fri, Oct 16$115-7.8%49d
Fri, Nov 20$65-47.9%84d
Fri, Dec 18$145+16.3%112d
Fri, Mar 19$145+16.3%203d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1457092114136158180$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot145708513016018055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)GVA 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

spot145708513016018011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot709211413615818058%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1457085130160180+$722$722
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
0.97-0.00700.00160.06-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01800.00280.11-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01850.00360.14-0.01-0.08
0.69-0.031150.01010.33-0.03-0.31
0.52-0.031300.01200.37-0.03-0.49
0.35-0.031450.01160.34-0.03-0.68
0.21-0.021600.00930.27-0.02-0.83
0.17-0.021650.00840.24-0.02-0.88
0.09-0.011800.00540.15-0.01-0.99

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

spot651051251451652020
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

spot6085110135160185206206
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 955 call contracts, 566 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: GVA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk