Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 12:30 PM ET

LI max pain

Spot (delayed)$12.22
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$12.5+2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.42±11.7% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI2.30251 puts / 109 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$12largest put OI
IV3050.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$5Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $9.5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12-1.8%6d
Fri, Aug 28$12.5+2.3%13d
Fri, Sep 4$12-1.8%20d
Fri, Sep 11$12.5+2.3%27d
Fri, Sep 18$15+22.7%34d
Fri, Sep 25$13+6.4%41d
Fri, Oct 2$12-1.8%48d
Fri, Dec 18$13+6.4%125d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.57912141619$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot12.5710.51213.516174174
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot12.5710.51213.51644
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot7911131517155%47%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 51.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 9.5710.51213.516+$6K$6K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0070.01850.00-0.01-0.04
0.91-0.019.50.06220.01-0.01-0.09
0.89-0.01100.08340.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.0110.50.11410.01-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.01110.15320.01-0.01-0.21
0.70-0.0111.50.19200.01-0.01-0.30
0.60-0.01120.21820.01-0.01-0.40
0.49-0.0112.50.22480.01-0.01-0.52
0.38-0.01130.21290.01-0.01-0.62
0.29-0.0113.50.18860.01-0.01-0.71
0.22-0.01140.15900.01-0.01-0.79
0.13-0.01150.10550.01-0.01-0.88
0.09-0.01160.07220.01-0.01-0.92
0.08-0.0116.50.06140.01-0.00-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot6911.51416.5205K0
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

spot391317233727K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 112K call contracts, 93K 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: LI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk