Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:53 AM ET

MHO max pain

Spot (delayed)$152.11
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$125-17.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$12.9±8.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.332 puts / 6 calls
Call wall$165largest call OI
Put wall$150largest put OI
IV3032.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $150

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$150-1.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$125-17.8%33d
Fri, Oct 16$130-14.5%61d
Fri, Jan 15$135-11.2%152d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot125120129138147156165$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12512012515015516016533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MHO 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

spot12512012515015516016511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12012913814715616543%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 150120125150155160165+$1K$1K
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
0.94-0.041200.00470.06-0.04-0.06
0.92-0.051250.00640.07-0.05-0.08
0.60-0.091500.02510.18-0.09-0.41
0.47-0.091550.02640.19-0.09-0.54
0.35-0.081600.02440.17-0.08-0.67
0.25-0.071650.02030.15-0.07-0.77

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

spot901301451601751904520
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

spot7095120145170195912912
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 146 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: MHO workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk