Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 3:30 AM ET

LAR max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.82
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-26.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.07±74.4% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.21322 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3070.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move

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$7.5+10.0%6d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5+10.0%34d
Fri, Nov 20$7.5+10.0%97d
Fri, Dec 18$7.5+10.0%125d
Fri, Jan 15$7.5+10.0%153d
Fri, Feb 19$5-26.7%188d
Fri, Jan 21$5-26.7%524d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53711151923$2M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.5391391
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LAR open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot52.57.512.517.522.588
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot371115192382%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 78.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot2.57.512.517.522.5+$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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.930.002.50.01730.01-0.00-0.07
0.80-0.0050.03880.02-0.00-0.20
0.66-0.007.50.05330.03-0.00-0.34
0.54-0.00100.06010.03-0.00-0.47
0.44-0.0012.50.06130.03-0.00-0.59
0.36-0.00150.05910.03-0.00-0.69
0.29-0.0017.50.05510.03-0.00-0.78
0.24-0.00200.05030.03-0.00-0.86
0.20-0.0022.50.04520.02-0.00-0.93

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.55K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.511K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 36K call contracts, 10K 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: LAR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk