Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 8:03 PM ET

MBLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.97
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$1-88.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.93±10.4% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.21649 puts / 3K calls
Call wall$2largest call OI
Put wall$6.5largest put OI
IV3055.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$12Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $6.5

Event risk before this expiration: 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 21$8-10.8%4d
Fri, Aug 28$3-66.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$1-88.8%18d
Fri, Sep 11$1-88.8%25d
Fri, Sep 18$8-10.8%32d
Fri, Sep 25$1-88.8%39d
Fri, Oct 2$5-44.2%46d
Fri, Nov 20$10+11.5%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot113581012$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot114.56.58.510.5826826
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBLY 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

spot114.56.58.510.5520520
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot67891112189%48%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 54.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 6.514.56.58.510.5+$6K$6K
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
0.98-0.005.50.01790.00-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0060.02890.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.006.50.04760.00-0.00-0.04
0.94-0.0070.07950.00-0.00-0.06
0.89-0.017.50.13220.00-0.01-0.11
0.81-0.0180.20980.01-0.01-0.19
0.69-0.018.50.29500.01-0.01-0.32
0.53-0.0190.33930.01-0.01-0.48
0.37-0.019.50.31560.01-0.01-0.64
0.24-0.01100.25280.01-0.01-0.76
0.16-0.0110.50.18720.01-0.01-0.85
0.10-0.01110.13410.00-0.01-0.91
0.07-0.0011.50.09500.00-0.01-0.94
0.05-0.00120.06750.00-0.00-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 20 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot15811152212K0
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

spot15.5912.5172737K37K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 195K call contracts, 83K 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: MBLY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk