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

MESO max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.49
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$14-15.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.2±31.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.6238 puts / 61 calls
Call wall$13largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV3090.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$119per 1% move

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$16-3.0%7d
Fri, Sep 18$14-15.1%35d
Fri, Oct 16$15-9.0%63d
Fri, Jan 15$10-39.4%154d
Fri, Jan 21$5-69.7%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14131516181921$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 — 14 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot14131517213434
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MESO 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

spot1413151721200200
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot131516181921224%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 128.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot13151721+$429$429
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
0.81-0.02130.04780.01-0.02-0.19
0.76-0.02140.06050.02-0.02-0.24
0.69-0.02150.07360.02-0.02-0.31
0.61-0.02160.08350.02-0.02-0.40
0.52-0.03170.08640.02-0.03-0.48
0.45-0.03180.08270.02-0.03-0.56
0.31-0.03210.06170.02-0.03-0.70

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

spot1013151719212K0
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

spot311162126315K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 33K call contracts, 5K 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: MESO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk