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

MESO max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.49
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$10-39.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.15±43.4% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.05108 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$17largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3090.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$21Kper 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$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

spot1051117232935$4M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1051215182230599599
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MESO open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot10512151822301515
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51117232935321%85%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 87.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot81316192535+$7K$7K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.0150.00620.01-0.01-0.05
0.89-0.0180.01270.02-0.01-0.10
0.84-0.01100.01840.03-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.01120.02530.03-0.01-0.21
0.74-0.01130.02900.03-0.01-0.24
0.71-0.01140.03260.04-0.01-0.28
0.67-0.01150.03610.04-0.01-0.32
0.63-0.01160.03890.04-0.01-0.36
0.58-0.01170.04110.04-0.01-0.40
0.54-0.01180.04230.04-0.01-0.44
0.50-0.01190.04260.04-0.01-0.48
0.47-0.01200.04230.04-0.01-0.52
0.41-0.01220.04020.04-0.01-0.57
0.35-0.01250.03620.04-0.01-0.64
0.32-0.01270.03360.04-0.01-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. 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