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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 12:34 AM ET

LZM max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.3
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$5+51.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.7±21.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.15905 puts / 6K calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3081.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$5+51.5%20d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5-24.2%111d
Fri, Feb 19$5+51.5%202d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53467910$3M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot52.557.5105K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)LZM 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

spot52.557.51077
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot3467910288%120%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 120.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2.557.510+$8K$8K
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
0.86-0.012.50.21830.00-0.01-0.14
0.19-0.0150.21500.00-0.01-0.82
0.10-0.017.50.10250.00-0.01-0.90
0.08-0.01100.06900.00-0.01-0.93

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

spot2.557.5106K0
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

spot2.557.5106K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 1K 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: LZM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk