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

MMYT max pain

Spot (delayed)$61.41
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$45-26.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$18±29.3% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.251K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$45largest put OI
IV3056.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$183Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

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$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

spot45204774101128155$35M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot45204065901151402K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MMYT open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot452040659011514011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot204774101128155144%57%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 4520406590115140+$96K$96K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01250.00210.03-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.01300.00330.04-0.01-0.06
0.92-0.01350.00490.06-0.02-0.08
0.88-0.02400.00680.07-0.02-0.12
0.83-0.02450.00920.09-0.03-0.17
0.77-0.03500.01170.11-0.03-0.23
0.70-0.03550.01420.13-0.03-0.31
0.62-0.03600.01620.14-0.04-0.39
0.53-0.03650.01740.14-0.04-0.48
0.45-0.03700.01760.14-0.03-0.56
0.37-0.03750.01700.14-0.03-0.64
0.31-0.03800.01580.13-0.03-0.71
0.26-0.03850.01430.12-0.03-0.76
0.21-0.03900.01270.11-0.02-0.81
0.18-0.02950.01120.10-0.02-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 29 are in the CSV. 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