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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 11:52 AM ET

INVZ max pain

Spot (delayed)$0.43
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$0.5+15.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.3±69.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.126K puts / 47K calls
Call wall$0.5largest call OI
Put wall$1largest put OI
IV30102.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$0.5+15.2%20d
Fri, Sep 18$1+130.5%48d
Fri, Oct 16$0.5+15.2%76d
Fri, Jan 15$0.5+15.2%167d
Fri, Jan 21$0.5+15.2%538d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot0.5112345$12M$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 — 0.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.50.51.52.53.54.510K10K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)INVZ 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

spot0.50.51.52.53.54.54141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot112345424%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 108.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot0.51.52.53.54.5+$2K$2K
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
0.680.000.50.96570.000.00-0.38
0.380.0010.97300.000.00-0.70
0.230.001.50.75970.000.00-0.87
0.140.0020.56870.000.00-0.97
0.100.002.50.42520.000.00-1.00
0.070.0030.32120.000.00-1.00
0.050.003.50.24570.000.00-1.00
0.040.0040.19040.000.00-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 8 strikes around the money — all 9 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.511.522.545K0
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

spot0.51.52.53.54.517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 65K call contracts, 7K 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: INVZ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk