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

MA max pain

Spot (delayed)$573
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$525-8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$33.75±5.9% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI0.32123 puts / 389 calls
Call wall$605largest call OI
Put wall$460largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$672Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $500

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — 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

spot525385438491544597650$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 — 525 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot525385515545580610640224224
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MA open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot5253855155455806106404040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot38543849154459765075%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 500385515545580610640+$542K$542K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.82-0.155350.00590.48-0.16-0.18
0.79-0.175400.00660.53-0.17-0.21
0.76-0.185450.00720.57-0.19-0.25
0.72-0.195500.00780.62-0.20-0.29
0.68-0.205550.00840.65-0.21-0.33
0.63-0.215600.00890.68-0.22-0.37
0.59-0.225650.00920.71-0.23-0.42
0.54-0.225700.00950.72-0.23-0.47
0.45-0.225800.00950.72-0.23-0.56
0.40-0.225850.00930.70-0.22-0.61
0.36-0.215900.00900.68-0.21-0.66
0.32-0.205950.00850.65-0.21-0.70
0.28-0.196000.00800.61-0.20-0.74
0.24-0.186050.00740.57-0.18-0.78
0.21-0.166100.00680.53-0.17-0.81

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 33 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