Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:27 PM ET

LAMR max pain

Spot (delayed)$155.47
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$155-0.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$8.6±5.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.51186 puts / 366 calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3020.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$52Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

Event risk before this expiration: 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$155-0.3%4d
Fri, Sep 18$155-0.3%32d
Fri, Oct 16$145-6.7%60d
Fri, Jan 15$120-22.8%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot155130140150160170180$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 — 155 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot155130140150160170180165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAMR 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

spot15513014015016017018066
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot13014015016017018046%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 135130140150160170180+$133K$133K
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
0.94-0.031300.00610.05-0.04-0.07
0.93-0.031350.00860.07-0.04-0.09
0.90-0.041400.01290.09-0.04-0.13
0.84-0.041450.02030.11-0.05-0.20
0.73-0.051500.03120.15-0.05-0.32
0.56-0.061550.04020.19-0.06-0.50
0.35-0.051600.04000.17-0.05-0.70
0.18-0.031650.02890.12-0.03-0.86
0.09-0.021700.01680.08-0.02-0.93
0.06-0.021750.01040.06-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.021800.00710.05-0.01-0.97

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

spot1001301451601751905830
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

spot80105130155180210590590
■ 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: LAMR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk