Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:22 PM ET

HTLD max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.79
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.2±9.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.1416 puts / 116 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5-2.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5-2.3%32d
Fri, Dec 18$10-21.8%123d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5-2.3%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.5369121518$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.52.57.512.517.58888
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)HTLD open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot12.52.57.512.517.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 12.557.51012.51517.5+$2K$2K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.012.50.00140.00-0.01-0.00
0.99-0.0150.00510.00-0.01-0.01
0.97-0.017.50.01600.00-0.01-0.03
0.93-0.02100.05890.00-0.02-0.07
0.63-0.0312.50.32860.01-0.03-0.37
0.17-0.03150.13050.01-0.03-0.83
0.09-0.0317.50.05930.00-0.03-0.91

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.52690
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530271271
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 626 call contracts, 259 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: HTLD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk