Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 2:48 AM ET

MRK max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.17
Max pain · Fri, Aug 14$127-0.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$5.45±4.2% by Fri, Aug 14
Put/Call OI0.20996 puts / 5K calls
Call wall$133largest call OI
Put wall$116largest put OI
IV3028.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.9Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $90

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$128-0.1%1d
Fri, Aug 14$127-0.9%8d
Fri, Aug 21$125-2.5%15d
Fri, Aug 28$125-2.5%22d
Fri, Sep 4$129+0.6%29d
Fri, Sep 11$126-1.7%36d
Fri, Sep 18$100-22.0%43d
Fri, Oct 16$120-6.4%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot127658299116133150$8M$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 — 127 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot127651101191271351442K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MRK open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 14.

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, Aug 14

spot12765110119127135144468468
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spot95106117128139150122%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 14

spotflip 9085114121128135142+$1.2M$1.2M
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, Aug 14

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.87-0.081210.03010.04-0.08-0.13
0.84-0.091220.03530.05-0.09-0.16
0.80-0.101230.04070.06-0.11-0.20
0.76-0.121240.04600.06-0.12-0.24
0.71-0.131250.05080.07-0.13-0.29
0.66-0.141260.05490.07-0.14-0.35
0.60-0.151270.05790.08-0.15-0.40
0.54-0.151280.05960.08-0.15-0.46
0.48-0.151290.05990.08-0.15-0.52
0.42-0.151300.05880.08-0.15-0.58
0.37-0.141310.05640.08-0.14-0.64
0.31-0.131320.05290.07-0.13-0.69
0.27-0.121330.04860.07-0.12-0.74
0.22-0.111340.04390.06-0.11-0.78
0.19-0.101350.03900.06-0.10-0.82

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 43 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot651081191291391508K0
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

spot4010011612814015530K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 257K call contracts, 202K 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: MRK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk