Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:29 PM ET

JANX max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.26
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$15-7.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2±12.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.893K puts / 3K calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3048.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$42Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-7.7%3d
Fri, Sep 18$17.5+7.6%31d
Fri, Nov 20$15-7.7%94d
Fri, Dec 18$15-7.7%122d
Fri, Jan 15$15-7.7%150d
Fri, Feb 19$15-7.7%185d
Fri, Jan 21$12.5-23.1%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1551015202530$3M$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, Aug 21

spot155101520251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)JANX 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

spot1551015202599
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot101315182023230%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 90.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 17.512.51517.52022.5+$63K$63K
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
1.00-0.005
1.00-0.007.5
1.00-0.0010
1.00-0.0012.50.00120.000.00
0.94-0.01150.14340.00-0.01-0.06
0.09-0.0117.50.17990.00-0.01-0.91
0.000.00200.00420.00-1.00
22.50.0002-1.00
25-1.00
300.0004-1.00

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

spot12.517.522.5301K0
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

spot2.51017.525402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 4K 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: JANX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk