Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:20 AM ET

MBX max pain

Spot (delayed)$68.57
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$15-78.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$58.5±85.3% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.30149 puts / 494 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3077.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$4Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $40

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$60-12.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$60-12.5%33d
Fri, Oct 16$50-27.1%61d
Fri, Dec 18$20-70.8%124d
Fri, Jan 15$20-70.8%152d
Fri, Jan 21$15-78.1%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1532140587795$3M$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot152.512.525456585100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MBX open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 21.

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, Jan 21

spot152.512.52545658522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot32140587795179%88%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 95.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spotflip 402.512.525456585+$691$691
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, Jan 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.88-0.01350.00240.16-0.01-0.11
0.86-0.01400.00270.18-0.02-0.14
0.84-0.01450.00300.20-0.02-0.16
0.81-0.02500.00330.22-0.02-0.19
0.79-0.02550.00360.23-0.02-0.21
0.77-0.02600.00380.25-0.02-0.23
0.74-0.02650.00410.26-0.02-0.26
0.72-0.02700.00420.27-0.02-0.28
0.70-0.02750.00440.28-0.02-0.31
0.68-0.02800.00460.29-0.03-0.33
0.66-0.02850.00470.30-0.03-0.35
0.64-0.03900.00480.30-0.03-0.37
0.62-0.03950.00490.31-0.03-0.39

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 23 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot25456075901054330
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

spot2.515305580105495495
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 716 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: MBX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk