Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:25 PM ET

LIF max pain

Spot (delayed)$51.77
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$55+6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.2±19.7% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI5.26895 puts / 170 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$55largest put OI
IV3052.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$49Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-13.1%5d
Fri, Sep 18$50-3.4%33d
Fri, Oct 16$55+6.2%61d
Fri, Dec 18$50-3.4%124d
Fri, Jan 15$40-22.7%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot55203346597285$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 — 55 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot552035506580497497
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LIF open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot5520355065801616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot233548607385124%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 59.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 302035506580+$43K$43K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.01200.00150.01-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.0122.50.00210.01-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.01300.00530.02-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.02350.00930.03-0.02-0.08
0.86-0.03400.01570.05-0.03-0.15
0.76-0.03450.02420.07-0.03-0.25
0.61-0.04500.03140.08-0.04-0.40
0.46-0.04550.03280.09-0.04-0.56
0.32-0.04600.02880.08-0.04-0.70
0.23-0.03650.02320.07-0.03-0.80
0.17-0.03700.01820.05-0.03-0.87
0.13-0.02750.01420.04-0.03-0.91
0.10-0.02800.01130.04-0.02-0.94
0.08-0.02850.00900.03-0.02-0.96

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

spot20405570852650
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

spot2035557595115544544
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 2K 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: LIF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk