Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:26 PM ET

MCFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$24.98
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$30+20.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.38±17.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 4 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
IV3075.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$141per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$25+0.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$30+20.1%34d
Fri, Oct 16$20-19.9%62d
Fri, Jan 15$22.5-9.9%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

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 18

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2022.52530353490
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

spot12.517.522.530934934
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 482 call contracts, 1K 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: MCFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk