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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 1, 3:43 AM ET

MARA max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.28
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$12+6.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.24±28.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.77134K puts / 175K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3098.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$222Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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$12+6.4%6d
Fri, Aug 14$11.5+1.9%13d
Fri, Aug 21$13+15.2%20d
Fri, Aug 28$11.5+1.9%27d
Fri, Sep 4$11.5+1.9%34d
Fri, Sep 11$11-2.5%41d
Fri, Sep 18$12+6.4%48d
Fri, Dec 18$11-2.5%139d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot121917243240$343M$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 — 12 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12171319253127K27K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MARA 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

spot12171319253112K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1917243240339%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 99.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 21713192531+$214K$214K
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
0.99-0.0040.00470.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0050.01020.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0160.01940.00-0.01-0.04
0.92-0.0170.03270.01-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.0180.04940.01-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.0190.06710.01-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.01100.08280.01-0.01-0.30
0.61-0.02110.09340.02-0.02-0.39
0.52-0.02120.09780.02-0.02-0.49
0.43-0.02130.09630.02-0.02-0.58
0.35-0.01140.09060.01-0.02-0.66
0.28-0.01150.08240.01-0.01-0.72
0.23-0.01160.07320.01-0.01-0.78
0.19-0.01170.06400.01-0.01-0.82
0.15-0.01180.05550.01-0.01-0.86

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 35 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot18.512.516.5223049K0
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

spot17.51216.52332128K128K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 921K call contracts, 684K 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: MARA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk