Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:41 AM ET

LGIH max pain

Spot (delayed)$59.8
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$45-24.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.95±25.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.42780 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$50largest put OI
IV3056.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$50Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$40-33.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$60+0.3%34d
Fri, Nov 20$40-33.1%97d
Fri, Dec 18$45-24.7%125d
Fri, Feb 19$55-8.0%188d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45183349648095$6M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot4517.52540557085528528
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LGIH 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

spot4517.5254055708511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot183349648095139%49%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 3517.52540557085+$16K$16K
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
0.97-0.01250.00240.02-0.01-0.03
0.94-0.01300.00370.04-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.02350.00560.05-0.02-0.08
0.87-0.02400.00810.07-0.02-0.12
0.82-0.02450.01110.09-0.02-0.17
0.75-0.03500.01440.11-0.03-0.24
0.66-0.03550.01750.13-0.03-0.33
0.56-0.03600.01960.14-0.03-0.43
0.46-0.03650.02030.14-0.03-0.53
0.37-0.03700.01950.13-0.03-0.62
0.30-0.03750.01770.12-0.03-0.70
0.24-0.02800.01560.11-0.03-0.76
0.19-0.02850.01350.10-0.02-0.81
0.16-0.02900.01160.09-0.02-0.85
0.13-0.02950.01000.07-0.02-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2035506580953160
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

spot17.52540557085844844
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K 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: LGIH workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk