Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:29 PM ET

INVX max pain

Spot (delayed)$31.24
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$25-20.0% vs spot
Put/Call OI0.0339 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3037.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$90Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25-20.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$22.5-28.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$22.5-28.0%124d
Fri, Mar 19$35+12.0%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot25202428323640$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 — 25 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot252022.5253035401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INVX open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot252022.52530354033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot232630333740189%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 47.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 302022.525303540+$59K$59K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.04200.00910.00-0.05-0.04
0.96-0.0522.50.01570.00-0.05-0.06
0.93-0.06250.02910.01-0.06-0.09
0.73-0.07300.16270.01-0.06-0.33
0.07-0.02350.05540.01-0.02-0.92
0.02-0.01400.01430.00-0.01-0.96

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

spot12.517.522.530401K0
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

spot12.517.522.530401K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 68 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: INVX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk