Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 12, 1:59 AM ET

MMYT max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.41
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$60-2.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$9.2±15.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.5015 puts / 10 calls
Call wall$45largest call OI
Put wall$60largest put OI
IV3056.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$929per 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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$50-18.6%8d
Fri, Sep 18$60-2.3%36d
Fri, Nov 20$35-43.0%99d
Fri, Dec 18$45-26.7%127d
Fri, Feb 19$40-34.9%190d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot60455157636975$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 — 60 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot60455565751111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MMYT 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

spot60455565755050
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot45515763697599%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 5545556575+$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
0.92-0.03450.00980.03-0.03-0.08
0.86-0.04500.01650.04-0.04-0.14
0.76-0.05550.02530.06-0.05-0.25
0.60-0.06600.03340.08-0.06-0.40
0.43-0.06650.03540.08-0.06-0.58
0.28-0.05700.03030.07-0.05-0.73
0.18-0.04750.02260.05-0.04-0.84

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

spot204565901151K0
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

spot204065901151403K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 8K call contracts, 3K 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: MMYT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk