Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 5:54 AM ET

LSPD max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.96
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$9-17.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.95±8.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI2.7995 puts / 34 calls
Call wall$12largest call OI
Put wall$9largest put OI
IV3040.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$326per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$10-8.8%7d
Fri, Sep 18$9-17.9%35d
Fri, Nov 20$9-17.9%98d
Fri, Dec 18$8-27.0%126d
Fri, Feb 19$8-27.0%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot991011111213$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 — 9 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot99101112139595
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LSPD open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot991011121377
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot9101111121368%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 39.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot910111213+$1K$1K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.0190.09880.01-0.01-0.13
0.76-0.01100.18820.01-0.01-0.24
0.53-0.01110.28260.01-0.01-0.48
0.29-0.01120.22200.01-0.01-0.71
0.18-0.01130.14320.01-0.01-0.83

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

spot491113153250
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

spot1591317251K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 3K call contracts, 837 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: LSPD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk