Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 2:50 AM ET

LOPE max pain

Spot (delayed)$141.84
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$145+2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.33±3.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.14186 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$155largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3029.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$894Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $145

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$145+2.2%3d
Fri, Sep 18$160+12.8%31d
Fri, Dec 18$155+9.3%122d
Fri, Mar 19$100-29.5%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot145115128141154167180$4M$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 — 145 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot145115125140150160170671671
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LOPE open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot14511512514015016017011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot115125135145155165103%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 145115135145155165180+$799K$799K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.041150.00240.01-0.04-0.01
0.98-0.061200.00420.01-0.06-0.02
0.96-0.081250.00780.01-0.09-0.04
0.86-0.181350.03300.03-0.18-0.14
0.66-0.251400.07140.06-0.25-0.35
0.27-0.201450.07010.05-0.20-0.74
0.09-0.101500.02820.02-0.10-0.92
0.04-0.061550.01210.01-0.06-0.97
0.02-0.041600.00600.01-0.04-0.99
0.01-0.031650.00340.01-0.03-0.99
0.01-0.021700.00210.00-0.02-1.00
0.00-0.011800.00090.00-0.02-1.00

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

spot1001251501701902206950
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

spot75105135165195250696696
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 862 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: LOPE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk