Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 10:19 PM ET

IMKTA max pain

Spot (delayed)$85.78
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$65-24.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.6±12.4% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.1020 puts / 200 calls
Call wall$90largest call OI
Put wall$65largest put OI
IV3030.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$40Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $80

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

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$70-18.4%3d
Fri, Sep 18$70-18.4%31d
Fri, Nov 20$65-24.2%94d
Fri, Feb 19$85-0.9%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot655566778899110$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 — 65 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot6555658090100110163163
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IMKTA open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot65556580901001101212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot556677889911068%26%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 8055658090100110+$38K$38K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.01550.00430.05-0.02-0.06
0.92-0.01600.00600.06-0.02-0.08
0.89-0.02650.00850.08-0.02-0.10
0.85-0.02700.01220.10-0.02-0.14
0.70-0.02800.02460.15-0.03-0.30
0.56-0.03850.03130.17-0.03-0.44
0.41-0.02900.03190.17-0.02-0.60
0.28-0.02950.02640.15-0.02-0.73
0.20-0.021000.02020.12-0.02-0.81
0.15-0.021050.01540.10-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.021100.01200.09-0.01-0.90

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

spot557080901001101860
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

spot406080100120560560
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 792 call contracts, 71 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: IMKTA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk