Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 3, 3:20 AM ET

KOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.02
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$45-8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.85±11.9% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.478 puts / 17 calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $50

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-8.2%15d
Fri, Sep 18$30-38.8%43d
Fri, Dec 18$40-18.4%134d
Fri, Mar 19$40-18.4%225d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45404448525660$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot4540455055601212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOP 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

spot45404550556022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot404448525660141%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 504045505560+$1K$1K
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
0.87-0.05400.02200.03-0.05-0.13
0.74-0.06450.04510.04-0.06-0.26
0.45-0.05500.07200.05-0.05-0.55
0.20-0.04550.04470.03-0.04-0.80
0.11-0.03600.02480.02-0.03-0.89

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

spot17.5304050605800
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

spot1522.5355065586586
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 779 call contracts, 17 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: KOP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk