Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:20 AM ET

MDU max pain

Spot (delayed)$20.29
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$20-1.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.43±7.0% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.075 puts / 71 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$20largest put OI
IV3031.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$20-1.4%7d
Fri, Sep 18$20-1.4%35d
Fri, Oct 16$20-1.4%63d
Fri, Jan 15$15-26.1%154d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot20182124273033$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot2017.52022.52527.532.54141
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDU open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot2017.52022.52527.532.511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot18202224262851%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 20.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot17.52022.52527.532.5+$972$972
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.0117.50.07860.02-0.01-0.16
0.58-0.01200.20370.03-0.01-0.43
0.21-0.0122.50.11830.02-0.01-0.80
0.11-0.00250.05760.02-0.00-0.90
0.07-0.0027.50.03390.01-0.00-0.94
0.04-0.0032.50.01580.01-0.97

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

spot17.522.527.532.5440
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

spot12.517.522.527.532.58484
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 245 call contracts, 14 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: MDU workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk