Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:20 PM ET

KEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.6
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5+7.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.15±9.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.60234 puts / 146 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3050.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$3Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+7.8%3d
Fri, Sep 18$12.5+7.8%31d
Fri, Dec 18$12.5+7.8%122d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5+7.8%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.53711151923$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.52.57.512.520109109
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEP 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

spot12.52.57.512.5201414
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2.557.51012.515+$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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.002.50.0004-0.00-0.00
1.0050.00160.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.007.50.00890.00-0.00-0.01
0.93-0.01100.11530.00-0.01-0.07
0.20-0.0212.50.27220.01-0.02-0.81
0.02-0.00150.03210.00-0.01-0.99
0.000.00200.0010-0.01-1.00
0.0022.50.0002-0.01-1.00

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5304830
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530574574
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 1K 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: KEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk