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

MCD max pain

Spot (delayed)$273.88
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$270-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$14.98±5.5% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI1.401K puts / 719 calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$255largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$31Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $300

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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 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

spot270210245280315350385$7M$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, Sep 4

spot270210240260280300470470
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MCD 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

spot270210240260280300101101
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot21024528031535038559%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 300210240260280300+$520K$520K
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
0.97-0.012400.00310.05-0.03-0.04
0.96-0.032450.00490.07-0.04-0.06
0.93-0.042500.00760.11-0.05-0.10
0.88-0.062550.01110.15-0.07-0.15
0.82-0.082600.01520.21-0.09-0.22
0.73-0.102650.01910.26-0.11-0.31
0.62-0.122700.02200.30-0.12-0.42
0.51-0.122750.02310.31-0.12-0.53
0.40-0.122800.02220.30-0.11-0.64
0.30-0.112850.01970.27-0.10-0.73
0.21-0.092900.01630.23-0.08-0.81
0.15-0.072950.01280.18-0.06-0.86
0.10-0.063000.00970.14-0.05-0.91
0.07-0.043050.00720.11-0.04-0.94
0.05-0.033100.00520.08-0.03-0.95

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 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

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