Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 4:17 PM ET

IBTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$34.84
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$30-13.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$15.65±44.9% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI2.6234 puts / 13 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3067.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$303per 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$35+0.5%16d
Fri, Sep 18$15-56.9%44d
Fri, Dec 18$25-28.2%135d
Fri, Jan 15$25-28.2%163d
Fri, Mar 19$30-13.9%226d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30152127333945$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot30152025352020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IBTA 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

spot301520253511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot152127333945100%67%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 17.515202535+$245$245
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
0.94-0.01150.00460.04-0.01-0.07
0.92-0.0117.50.00620.04-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01200.00800.05-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.0122.50.00990.06-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.01250.01190.07-0.01-0.19
0.74-0.01300.01580.09-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.02350.01880.10-0.02-0.37
0.46-0.02450.02050.11-0.02-0.57

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

spot1522.53040501610
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

spot517.5356085110251251
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 751 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: IBTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk