Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 12:18 AM ET

MCD max pain

Spot (delayed)$273.88
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$270-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$11.1±4.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.6416K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$270largest call OI
Put wall$265largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$13.0Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $275

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$270-1.4%2d
Fri, Aug 14$270-1.4%9d
Fri, Aug 21$270-1.4%16d
Fri, Aug 28$270-1.4%23d
Fri, Sep 4$270-1.4%30d
Fri, Sep 11$265-3.2%37d
Fri, Sep 18$285+4.1%44d
Fri, Oct 16$270-1.4%72d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot270155204253302351400$291M$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 — 270 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2701551952352652853205K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MCD open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 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, Aug 21

spot2701551952352652853201K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot15520124729333938589%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 275175215255275300340+$6.9M$6.9M
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.90-0.07257.50.01250.10-0.08-0.10
0.87-0.092600.01560.13-0.09-0.14
0.82-0.11262.50.01900.15-0.11-0.18
0.77-0.132650.02230.17-0.13-0.23
0.71-0.14267.50.02530.20-0.15-0.29
0.64-0.162700.02770.21-0.16-0.36
0.57-0.17272.50.02920.23-0.17-0.43
0.50-0.172750.02970.23-0.17-0.51
0.43-0.17277.50.02910.23-0.17-0.58
0.36-0.162800.02760.21-0.16-0.65
0.29-0.15282.50.02530.20-0.15-0.72
0.24-0.132850.02250.18-0.14-0.78
0.19-0.12287.50.01960.16-0.12-0.83
0.15-0.102900.01660.14-0.10-0.87
0.09-0.072950.01140.10-0.08-0.93

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 48 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot155210252.5280307.53608K0
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

spot135205257.5292.534541528K28K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 173K call contracts, 120K 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: MCD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk