Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:10 PM ET

KEY max pain

Spot (delayed)$23.31
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$21-9.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.7±11.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.597K puts / 12K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3022.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$426Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $22

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 · 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$23-1.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$22-5.6%32d
Fri, Oct 16$22-5.6%60d
Fri, Nov 20$23-1.3%95d
Fri, Dec 18$21-9.9%123d
Fri, Jan 15$20-14.2%151d
Fri, Mar 19$20-14.2%214d
Thu, Jun 17$22-5.6%304d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot213814192530$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 — 21 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot21313172125305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KEY open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

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, Dec 18

spot2131317212530181181
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot8121721263095%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 22514182226+$326K$326K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.00160.01820.01-0.00-0.05
0.95-0.00170.02560.01-0.00-0.07
0.92-0.00180.03450.02-0.00-0.09
0.89-0.00190.04630.03-0.00-0.13
0.84-0.00200.06260.03-0.00-0.18
0.77-0.00210.08340.04-0.01-0.25
0.68-0.01220.10470.05-0.01-0.34
0.57-0.01230.11990.05-0.01-0.45
0.45-0.01240.12290.05-0.01-0.57
0.34-0.01250.11320.05-0.01-0.68
0.24-0.00260.09580.04-0.00-0.77
0.17-0.00270.07680.04-0.00-0.84
0.12-0.00280.05960.03-0.00-0.89
0.06-0.00300.03440.02-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 21 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot313182226308K0
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

spot3131823283523K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 72K call contracts, 57K 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: KEY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk