Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 4:27 AM ET

MCRI max pain

Spot (delayed)$123.86
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$120-3.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$4.93±4.0% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.3751 puts / 139 calls
Call wall$130largest call OI
Put wall$100largest put OI
IV3026.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$59Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $100

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$120-3.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$110-11.2%34d
Fri, Dec 18$110-11.2%125d
Fri, Mar 19$120-3.1%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1208094108122136150$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 — 120 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12080105120135150103103
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MCRI 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

spot12080105120135150580580
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot95106117128139150103%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 10080105120135150+$62K$62K
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
0.99-0.02800.00100.00-0.02-0.01
0.98-0.04950.00290.01-0.04-0.02
0.97-0.041000.00460.01-0.05-0.03
0.96-0.061050.00760.02-0.06-0.04
0.93-0.071100.01320.03-0.07-0.07
0.87-0.091150.02540.04-0.09-0.13
0.74-0.111200.05300.06-0.11-0.26
0.41-0.101250.08120.07-0.10-0.60
0.14-0.061300.04010.04-0.06-0.87
0.06-0.041350.01710.02-0.04-0.95
0.03-0.031400.00850.01-0.03-0.97
0.02-0.021450.00480.01-0.02-0.99
0.01-0.011500.00290.01-0.01-0.99

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50801001201401608530
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

spot5075100125150175853853
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 130 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: MCRI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk