Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 5, 11:41 PM ET

MA max pain

Spot (delayed)$573
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$555-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.65±5.3% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI1.26323 puts / 256 calls
Call wall$580largest call OI
Put wall$500largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$123Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $615

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$565-1.4%2d
Fri, Aug 14$550-4.0%9d
Fri, Aug 21$530-7.5%16d
Fri, Aug 28$555-3.1%23d
Fri, Sep 4$555-3.1%30d
Fri, Sep 11$525-8.4%37d
Fri, Sep 18$525-8.4%44d
Fri, Oct 16$530-7.5%72d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot555440487534581628675$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 — 555 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot5554404805255656056506262
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot5554404805255656056501616
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot44048753458162867557%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 615440480530570610655+$68K$68K
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 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.80-0.185400.00680.46-0.19-0.20
0.77-0.205450.00760.50-0.20-0.23
0.73-0.215500.00840.54-0.22-0.27
0.69-0.235550.00900.58-0.23-0.32
0.64-0.245600.00960.61-0.25-0.36
0.59-0.255650.01010.64-0.25-0.41
0.54-0.255700.01040.65-0.26-0.47
0.49-0.255750.01050.65-0.26-0.52
0.44-0.255800.01040.65-0.25-0.57
0.39-0.245850.01010.63-0.25-0.63
0.34-0.235900.00960.60-0.24-0.68
0.29-0.225950.00900.57-0.22-0.72
0.25-0.206000.00840.53-0.21-0.76
0.22-0.196050.00760.49-0.19-0.80
0.19-0.176100.00690.44-0.18-0.83

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 44 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot370465522.55555856202K0
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

spot2704004705355906806K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 75K call contracts, 70K 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: MA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk