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

MBLY max pain

Spot (delayed)$8.97
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$5-44.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.54±17.1% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.502 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$5largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3055.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$12per 1% move · flip ≈ $8

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 — 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

spot5566778$1M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot555.57833
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBLY open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot555.5781717
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot566778139%61%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 58.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 855.578+$13$13
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0050.02320.00-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.005.50.03290.00-0.00-0.04
0.87-0.0170.09320.01-0.01-0.13
0.74-0.0180.16300.01-0.01-0.26

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. 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