Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:28 PM ET

MANU max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.19
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$17-29.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.63±23.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI4.328K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3046.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$25Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $13

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$22-9.1%4d
Fri, Sep 18$17-29.7%32d
Fri, Dec 18$17-29.7%123d
Fri, Jan 15$17-29.7%151d
Fri, Mar 19$18-25.6%214d
Fri, Jan 21$17-29.7%522d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17101520253035$4M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot171015182124308K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MANU open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot171015182124301515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot10152025303588%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 50.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 13101518212430+$66K$66K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01170.02230.03-0.01-0.10
0.87-0.01180.02750.03-0.01-0.13
0.84-0.01190.03350.04-0.01-0.16
0.80-0.01200.04000.04-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.01210.04640.04-0.01-0.25
0.70-0.01220.05220.05-0.01-0.30
0.64-0.01230.05660.05-0.01-0.36
0.58-0.01240.05920.06-0.01-0.42
0.52-0.01250.05970.06-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01260.05860.06-0.01-0.54
0.30-0.01300.04690.05-0.01-0.71
0.25-0.01320.04060.04-0.01-0.76
0.20-0.01350.03270.04-0.01-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 18 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot914182226306K0
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

spot311162126318K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K call contracts, 10K 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: MANU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk