Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 6:38 AM ET

MDWD max pain

Spot (delayed)$13.53
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$15+10.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.64±26.9% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.0919 puts / 214 calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3059.9%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 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$14+3.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$14+3.5%35d
Fri, Dec 18$15+10.9%126d
Fri, Mar 19$16+18.3%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15121518202326$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1512151821269393
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDWD open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot15121518212611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot121518202326114%34%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 42.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1215182126+$657$657
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.72-0.01120.07140.03-0.01-0.28
0.64-0.01130.08470.03-0.01-0.37
0.55-0.01140.08990.03-0.01-0.46
0.47-0.01150.08640.03-0.01-0.54
0.41-0.01160.07920.03-0.01-0.60
0.36-0.01170.07160.03-0.01-0.65
0.33-0.01180.06480.03-0.01-0.68
0.30-0.01190.05900.03-0.01-0.71
0.28-0.01200.05410.03-0.01-0.73
0.26-0.01210.05000.03-0.01-0.75

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 10 strikes around the money — all 13 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot12151821263520
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

spot5913172125352352
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 975 call contracts, 389 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: MDWD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk