Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 1:03 AM ET

INVA max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.96
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$20-4.6% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.1038 puts / 399 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$22.5largest put OI
IV3028.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move

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$20-4.6%4d
Fri, Sep 18$20-4.6%32d
Fri, Dec 18$20-4.6%123d
Fri, Mar 19$17.5-16.5%214d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20101520253035$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, Dec 18

spot201015202535198198
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INVA open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot20101520253544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10152025303581%30%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 44.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1015202535+$6K$6K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.00100.00910.01-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.0012.50.01560.02-0.01-0.08
0.89-0.00150.02730.02-0.01-0.11
0.82-0.0117.50.05120.03-0.01-0.18
0.67-0.01200.09920.04-0.01-0.34
0.41-0.0122.50.10760.05-0.01-0.62
0.26-0.01250.07190.04-0.01-0.77
0.15-0.01300.03830.03-0.01-0.88
0.11-0.01350.02510.02-0.01-0.93

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

spot10152025354250
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530426426
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 972 call contracts, 97 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: INVA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk