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

MESO max pain

Spot (delayed)$16.49
Max pain · Fri, Jan 21$5-69.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$13.5±81.9% by Fri, Jan 21
Put/Call OI0.01277 puts / 25K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3090.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$125Kper 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

spot53916222935$39M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot53101725354K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MESO open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 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, Jan 21

spot5310172535196196
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot51117232935180%68%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 92.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 21

spot310172535+$21K$21K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.9830.00400.01-0.00-0.02
0.94-0.0050.00670.02-0.00-0.05
0.87-0.0080.01080.04-0.00-0.11
0.83-0.00100.01320.04-0.00-0.15
0.79-0.00120.01520.05-0.00-0.19
0.72-0.00150.01760.06-0.01-0.25
0.69-0.01170.01880.07-0.01-0.29
0.63-0.01200.02010.07-0.01-0.35
0.60-0.01220.02070.07-0.01-0.38
0.56-0.01250.02120.07-0.01-0.43
0.53-0.01270.02140.08-0.01-0.46
0.49-0.01300.02150.08-0.01-0.50
0.43-0.01350.02130.08-0.01-0.57

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