Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 2:42 PM ET

MEI max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.76
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$15-10.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.05±12.2% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI1.10733 puts / 669 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV30103.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$8Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $17.5

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-10.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$15-10.5%33d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-55.2%61d
Fri, Jan 15$15-10.5%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot153814192530$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, Aug 21

spot152.57.512.517.522.530409409
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MEI 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

spot152.57.512.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot51015202530394%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 102.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 17.510152025+$14K$14K
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
1.002.5
1.005
1.000.007.50.00020.000.00
1.00-0.00100.00210.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.0112.50.02170.00-0.01-0.02
0.81-0.05150.11530.01-0.05-0.20
0.42-0.0717.50.15880.01-0.07-0.58
0.15-0.04200.08880.01-0.04-0.85
0.05-0.0222.50.03580.00-0.02-0.95
0.02-0.01250.01320.00-0.01-0.99
0.00-0.00300.00180.000.00-1.00

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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5303K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 2K 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: MEI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk