Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 3:55 AM ET

IIPR max pain

Spot (delayed)$57.68
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$60+4.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.27±19.5% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.21375 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3029.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$147Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $65

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, Aug 21$60+4.0%7d
Fri, Sep 18$60+4.0%35d
Fri, Oct 16$55-4.6%63d
Fri, Dec 18$55-4.6%126d
Fri, Jan 15$60+4.0%154d
Thu, Jun 17$55-4.6%307d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60304254667890$4M$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot6030456075902K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IIPR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot60304560759011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot30425466789060%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 34.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 653045607590+$164K$164K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00300.00030.00-0.00-0.03
0.99350.00160.01-0.01-0.06
0.97400.00580.02-0.01-0.11
0.92-0.01450.01520.05-0.01-0.19
0.80-0.01500.02800.09-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.02550.03670.13-0.01-0.46
0.44-0.02600.03630.14-0.01-0.61
0.29-0.01650.03030.12-0.01-0.74
0.19-0.01700.02300.09-0.01-0.84
0.12-0.01750.01650.07-0.00-0.89
0.08-0.01800.01170.05-0.93
0.05-0.00850.00830.04-0.95
0.04-0.00900.00600.03-0.97

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

spot3550607080901K0
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

spot25405570855K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 10K 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: IIPR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk