Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 20, 2:02 AM ET

MED max pain

Spot (delayed)$11.58
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$7.5-35.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.25±10.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.121K puts / 13K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$12.5largest put OI
IV3027.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$152Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$7.5-35.2%1d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-35.2%29d
Fri, Nov 20$10-13.6%92d
Fri, Dec 18$10-13.6%120d
Fri, Mar 19$7.5-35.2%211d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53610131720$12M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot7.52.51015208K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MED open contracts per strike for 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

spot7.52.51015202727
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot81012141618113%33%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.57.51012.51517.520+$126K$126K
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.000.002.50.00150.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.007.50.01920.00-0.00-0.02
0.92-0.00100.11700.01-0.00-0.09
0.26-0.0112.50.27000.01-0.01-0.75
0.08-0.01150.07630.01-0.01-0.93
0.04-0.0017.50.03440.00-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.00200.01910.00-0.00-0.99

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

spot510152015K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.516K16K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 24K call contracts, 4K 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: MED workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk