Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 11:43 PM ET

MDY max pain

Spot (delayed)$715.35
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$515-28.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$78.45±11.0% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.052 puts / 43 calls
Call wall$825largest call OI
Put wall$515largest put OI
IV3013.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$67Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $725

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$690-3.5%4d
Fri, Sep 18$670-6.3%32d
Fri, Dec 18$685-4.2%123d
Fri, Jan 15$675-5.6%151d
Fri, Mar 19$515-28.0%214d
Thu, Jun 17$655-8.4%304d
Fri, Dec 17$745+4.1%487d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot515515582649716783850$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 — 515 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot5155157508258502020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MDY open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot5155157508258502020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51558264971678385029%14%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 17.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 725515750825850+$30K$30K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.955150.00060.53-0.04-0.05
0.55-0.087250.00422.15-0.09-0.48
0.44-0.087500.00442.14-0.09-0.61
0.17-0.058200.00311.45-0.05-0.94
0.16-0.058250.00291.35-0.07-0.96
0.15-0.048300.00281.29-0.10-0.98
0.11-0.038500.00221.03-0.15-1.00

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

spot4355956356757157551K0
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

spot3704805806306857304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 13K call contracts, 51K 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: MDY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk