Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 3:02 PM ET

KEEL max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.52
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$4.5+28.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.66±47.1% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.5630K puts / 54K calls
Call wall$7largest call OI
Put wall$5.5largest put OI
IV30100.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $1

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 14$3.5-0.4%1d
Fri, Aug 21$4+13.8%8d
Fri, Aug 28$3.5-0.4%15d
Fri, Sep 4$3.5-0.4%22d
Fri, Sep 11$3-14.7%29d
Fri, Sep 18$3-14.7%36d
Fri, Sep 25$5+42.2%43d
Fri, Nov 20$4.5+28.0%99d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4.513691114$40M$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 — 4.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot4.50.52.54.581213K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEEL open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

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, Nov 20

spot4.50.52.54.5812539539
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot13691114237%103%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 114.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 10.52.54.5812+$22K$22K
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, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.50.00440.000.00-0.01
0.9910.01760.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.001.50.04430.00-0.00-0.05
0.90-0.0020.08460.00-0.00-0.10
0.83-0.002.50.13030.01-0.00-0.18
0.73-0.0030.16910.01-0.00-0.28
0.63-0.003.50.19360.01-0.00-0.38
0.54-0.0040.20310.01-0.00-0.47
0.46-0.004.50.20120.01-0.00-0.56
0.39-0.0050.19220.01-0.00-0.63
0.33-0.005.50.17930.01-0.00-0.69
0.20-0.0070.13620.01-0.00-0.82
0.15-0.0080.11120.00-0.00-0.88
0.12-0.0090.09080.00-0.00-0.92

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.51244K0
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

spot0.535.5810.5118K118K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 900K call contracts, 189K 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: KEEL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk