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

MA max pain

Spot (delayed)$573
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$525-8.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$36.1±6.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.8511K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$550largest call OI
Put wall$390largest put OI
IV3023.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$15.6Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $550

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 · 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 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

spot525300396492588684780$262M$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 18

spot5253004405005506006602K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MA 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

spot5253004405005506006604747
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot30039649258868478084%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 550380465510555600650+$2.7M$2.7M
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
0.77-0.165400.00630.60-0.16-0.23
0.74-0.175450.00680.64-0.17-0.26
0.71-0.185500.00730.68-0.18-0.30
0.67-0.195550.00780.72-0.19-0.34
0.63-0.195600.00810.75-0.20-0.38
0.59-0.205650.00850.77-0.21-0.42
0.55-0.205700.00870.79-0.21-0.46
0.50-0.205750.00880.79-0.21-0.51
0.46-0.205800.00870.79-0.21-0.55
0.42-0.205850.00860.77-0.20-0.60
0.38-0.195900.00840.75-0.20-0.64
0.34-0.195950.00800.72-0.19-0.68
0.30-0.186000.00760.69-0.18-0.72
0.27-0.176050.00720.65-0.17-0.76
0.23-0.166100.00670.61-0.16-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 56 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