Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 12:55 AM ET

IIIV max pain

Spot (delayed)$16
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$20+25.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.03±12.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI2.14158 puts / 74 calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3060.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $15

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-6.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$20+25.0%32d
Fri, Oct 16$20+25.0%60d
Fri, Jan 15$15-6.3%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20131620232730$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2012.517.522.5307575
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IIIV open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot2012.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot131620232730111%41%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 1512.517.522.530+$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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.0112.50.05110.01-0.01-0.13
0.71-0.01150.12550.02-0.01-0.30
0.37-0.0117.50.13260.03-0.01-0.66
0.23-0.01200.07880.02-0.01-0.80
0.17-0.0122.50.05330.02-0.01-0.86
0.13-0.01250.03980.01-0.01-0.89
0.10-0.01300.02630.01-0.01-0.93

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

spot2.512.52022.52530760
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

spot2.51017.52540189189
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 373 call contracts, 264 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: IIIV workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk