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

KOP max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.02
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$30-38.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.08±14.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.025 puts / 243 calls
Call wall$40largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3048.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — 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

spot30182635435260$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3017.5304050212212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)KOP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot3017.530405011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot182635435260170%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot17.5304050+$11K$11K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.0217.50.00200.01-0.02-0.03
0.95-0.02250.00440.02-0.02-0.05
0.93-0.03300.00740.02-0.03-0.07
0.89-0.03350.01240.03-0.03-0.11
0.82-0.03400.02130.05-0.03-0.18
0.70-0.03450.03630.06-0.03-0.30
0.48-0.03500.05050.07-0.03-0.52
0.17-0.02600.02670.05-0.03-0.83

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