Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 4:17 PM ET

LBRT max pain

Spot (delayed)$21.98
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$20-9.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.18±28.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.60711 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3052.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $14

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$18-18.1%3d
Fri, Sep 18$20-9.0%31d
Fri, Dec 18$20-9.0%122d
Fri, Jan 15$15-31.8%150d
Fri, Mar 19$20-9.0%213d
Fri, Jan 21$20-9.0%521d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2091725344250$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot2091823283340419419
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LBRT 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

spot20918232833401111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot9172534425087%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 61.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 1491823283340+$8K$8K
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
0.89-0.01150.02270.02-0.01-0.12
0.86-0.01160.02760.03-0.01-0.15
0.82-0.01170.03290.03-0.01-0.18
0.78-0.01180.03810.04-0.01-0.22
0.73-0.01190.04290.04-0.01-0.27
0.69-0.01200.04690.04-0.01-0.32
0.63-0.01210.05000.05-0.01-0.37
0.58-0.01220.05200.05-0.01-0.42
0.53-0.01230.05300.05-0.01-0.48
0.48-0.01240.05300.05-0.01-0.53
0.44-0.01250.05210.05-0.01-0.57
0.39-0.01260.05060.05-0.01-0.62
0.35-0.01270.04860.05-0.01-0.66
0.32-0.01280.04620.04-0.01-0.69
0.28-0.01290.04370.04-0.01-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1419242934395K0
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

spot310172431388K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 43K call contracts, 27K 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: LBRT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk