Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 9:06 PM ET

LUMN max pain

Spot (delayed)$6.72
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$6.5-3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.16±17.2% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI0.3065 puts / 219 calls
Call wall$8.5largest call OI
Put wall$11.5largest put OI
IV3059.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

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$7+4.2%6d
Fri, Aug 28$6-10.7%13d
Fri, Sep 4$6-10.7%20d
Fri, Sep 11$5-25.6%27d
Fri, Sep 18$6-10.7%34d
Fri, Sep 25$6.5-3.3%41d
Fri, Oct 2$6-10.7%48d
Fri, Oct 16$8+19.0%62d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot6.556891112$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 — 6.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot6.54.567.51011.5104104
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LUMN open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot6.54.567.51011.5100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot56891112152%55%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 64.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 54.567.51011.5+$797$797
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.004.50.06850.00-0.00-0.08
0.89-0.0050.10390.00-0.00-0.11
0.82-0.015.50.15520.01-0.01-0.17
0.73-0.0160.21800.01-0.01-0.27
0.60-0.016.50.26850.01-0.01-0.39
0.47-0.0170.27880.01-0.01-0.53
0.35-0.017.50.25220.01-0.01-0.65
0.26-0.0180.21140.01-0.01-0.74
0.19-0.018.50.17130.01-0.01-0.81
0.09-0.00100.08820.00-0.00-0.91
0.07-0.0010.50.07130.00-0.00-0.93
0.06-0.00110.05800.00-0.00-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 12 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot146.5911.51611K0
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

spot0.53.56.59.512.51859K59K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 285K call contracts, 193K 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: LUMN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk