Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:23 PM ET

IDYA max pain

Spot (delayed)$36.75
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$40+8.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.3±11.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.255 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3049.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$152per 1% move

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$35-4.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$40+8.8%32d
Fri, Oct 16$25-32.0%60d
Fri, Jan 15$30-18.4%151d
Fri, Dec 17$22.5-38.8%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot40353739414345$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 — 40 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot40354042.54533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IDYA 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

spot40354042.54511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot353739414345116%40%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 53.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot354042.545+$177$177
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
0.62-0.03350.06500.04-0.03-0.38
0.31-0.03400.05930.04-0.03-0.69
0.22-0.0342.50.04520.03-0.03-0.79
0.16-0.03450.03440.03-0.03-0.84

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

spot1522.53040503270
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

spot1522.53037.54555437437
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 611 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: IDYA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk