Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:43 PM ET

MSDL max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.57
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$15-3.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.4±15.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.0616 puts / 281 calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$23largest put OI
IV3019.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $14

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$15-3.7%7d
Fri, Sep 18$15-3.7%35d
Fri, Dec 18$15-3.7%126d
Fri, Jan 15$17+9.2%154d
Fri, Mar 19$15-3.7%217d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot15131517202224$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot1513151724276276
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSDL open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot15131517241111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot13151719212342%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 30.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 1413151724+$17K$17K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.00130.09440.01-0.00-0.26
0.84-0.00140.17880.02-0.00-0.37
0.62-0.00150.25810.04-0.00-0.53
0.39-0.00160.19430.04-0.00-0.65
0.27-0.00170.12620.04-0.00-0.72
0.11-0.00230.03840.02-0.00-0.86
0.10-0.00240.03430.02-0.00-0.87

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

spot121517192K0
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

spot510141822273K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 5K 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: MSDL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk