Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 11:42 PM ET

MSBT max pain

Spot (delayed)$18.4
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$19+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.9±10.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI14.0014 puts / 1 calls
Call wall$14largest call OI
Put wall$17largest put OI
IV3038.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$624per 1% move · flip ≈ $17

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$18-2.2%3d
Fri, Sep 18$19+3.3%31d
Fri, Nov 20$19+3.3%94d
Fri, Feb 19$18-2.2%185d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot19141516171819$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 — 19 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot191417181988
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSBT 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

spot19141718191010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot14151617181956%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1714171819+$307$307
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
0.88-0.01140.04000.01-0.01-0.11
0.73-0.01170.11260.02-0.01-0.27
0.61-0.01180.15600.02-0.01-0.39
0.45-0.01190.16620.03-0.01-0.55

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

spot14172023261880
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

spot91317212529188188
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 596 call contracts, 274 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: MSBT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk