Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 7:23 PM ET

LDOS max pain

Spot (delayed)$133.9
Max pain · Fri, May 21$100-25.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$35.8±26.7% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.77341 puts / 443 calls
Call wall$100largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3034.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $85

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 · 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$110-17.8%15d
Fri, Sep 18$115-14.1%43d
Fri, Nov 20$115-14.1%106d
Fri, Dec 18$110-17.8%134d
Fri, Jan 15$105-21.6%162d
Fri, Feb 19$110-17.8%197d
Fri, May 21$100-25.3%288d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1006086112138164190$3M$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 — 100 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot1006085110135160190161161
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LDOS open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot100608511013516019088
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot608611213816419053%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 38.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 856085110135160190+$7K$7K
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.011000.00460.28-0.02-0.15
0.82-0.021050.00530.31-0.02-0.18
0.79-0.021100.00600.34-0.02-0.22
0.76-0.021150.00660.37-0.03-0.25
0.72-0.021200.00730.40-0.03-0.29
0.68-0.031250.00780.42-0.03-0.33
0.64-0.031300.00830.44-0.03-0.38
0.60-0.031350.00860.46-0.03-0.42
0.55-0.031400.00890.47-0.03-0.47
0.51-0.031450.00910.47-0.03-0.52
0.47-0.031500.00910.47-0.03-0.56
0.43-0.031550.00900.46-0.03-0.61
0.39-0.031600.00890.45-0.03-0.65
0.35-0.031650.00860.44-0.03-0.69
0.32-0.031700.00830.42-0.03-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 26 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751101401702002606320
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

spot55901251601952602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 10K call contracts, 5K 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: LDOS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk