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

MCD max pain

Spot (delayed)$273.88
Max pain · Fri, Sep 11$265-3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.03±5.9% by Fri, Sep 11
Put/Call OI1.43143 puts / 100 calls
Call wall$290largest call OI
Put wall$250largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$44Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $290

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 — 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

spot265205227249271293315$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 — 265 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot2652052352552752954040
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MCD open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 11.

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 11

spot265205235255275295116116
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spot20522724927129331549%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 11

spotflip 290205235255275295+$37K$37K
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 11

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.022400.00340.06-0.03-0.05
0.95-0.032450.00540.09-0.04-0.07
0.92-0.042500.00810.13-0.05-0.11
0.87-0.062550.01160.18-0.07-0.16
0.80-0.082600.01530.24-0.08-0.24
0.71-0.102650.01860.29-0.10-0.32
0.61-0.112700.02080.33-0.10-0.42
0.51-0.112750.02150.34-0.11-0.52
0.40-0.112800.02070.33-0.10-0.62
0.31-0.102850.01850.30-0.09-0.71
0.23-0.082900.01560.27-0.08-0.79
0.17-0.072950.01270.22-0.06-0.85
0.12-0.063000.00990.18-0.05-0.89
0.05-0.033150.00440.09-0.02-0.96

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 19 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