Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:19 PM ET

IMNM max pain

Spot (delayed)$26.42
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$15-43.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.4±35.6% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0531 puts / 624 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3070.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10

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$24-9.2%7d
Fri, Sep 18$26-1.6%35d
Fri, Oct 16$21-20.5%63d
Fri, Dec 18$5-81.1%126d
Fri, Jan 15$15-43.2%154d
Fri, Jan 21$10-62.1%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1551118243137$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1551519233037140140
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)IMNM 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

spot155151923303755
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot101521263237202%59%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 69.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 1051519233037+$3K$3K
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
0.85-0.01180.01600.04-0.01-0.16
0.83-0.01190.01790.04-0.01-0.18
0.80-0.01200.01990.05-0.01-0.20
0.78-0.01210.02190.05-0.01-0.23
0.75-0.01220.02390.06-0.01-0.26
0.72-0.01230.02580.06-0.01-0.29
0.66-0.01250.02910.06-0.01-0.35
0.63-0.01260.03040.07-0.01-0.38
0.60-0.01270.03140.07-0.01-0.41
0.51-0.01300.03260.07-0.02-0.51
0.48-0.01310.03250.07-0.01-0.54
0.46-0.01320.03220.07-0.01-0.56
0.39-0.01350.03060.07-0.01-0.64
0.34-0.01370.02910.06-0.01-0.68

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot10192327312880
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

spot31217222732990990
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 2K 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: IMNM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk