Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:31 PM ET

MPWR max pain

Spot (delayed)$1,399
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$1,080-22.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$434.85±31.1% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.492K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$2,000largest call OI
Put wall$560largest put OI
IV3055.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$58Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $620

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$1,380-1.3%5d
Fri, Sep 18$1,420+1.5%33d
Fri, Nov 20$1,360-2.8%96d
Fri, Dec 18$1,290-7.8%124d
Fri, Jan 15$1,080-22.8%152d
Fri, Feb 19$1,500+7.2%187d
Fri, Mar 19$1,410+0.8%215d
Fri, May 21$1,400+0.1%278d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot10803607841208163220562480$136M$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 — 1080 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1080360700920114013801640165165
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MPWR 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

spot108036070092011401380164022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot3607841208163220562480111%60%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 60.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 6206008001000126014801760+$139K$139K
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
0.69-0.6212600.00063.19-0.64-0.31
0.68-0.6312800.00063.25-0.65-0.32
0.67-0.6413000.00063.31-0.66-0.34
0.65-0.6513200.00073.36-0.67-0.35
0.64-0.6613400.00073.40-0.68-0.37
0.62-0.6713600.00073.45-0.69-0.38
0.61-0.6813800.00073.48-0.69-0.39
0.59-0.6914000.00073.52-0.70-0.41
0.58-0.6914200.00073.55-0.71-0.42
0.57-0.6914400.00073.57-0.71-0.44
0.54-0.7014800.00073.60-0.72-0.47
0.53-0.7015000.00073.61-0.72-0.48
0.51-0.7015200.00073.62-0.72-0.49
0.50-0.7015400.00073.62-0.72-0.51
0.47-0.7015800.00073.61-0.72-0.53

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 60 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot48090010901380156018204630
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

spot3609401200145016802020522522
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 10K 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: MPWR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk