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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 29, 2:09 AM ET

MSFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$395.01
Max pain · Mon, Aug 3$390-1.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.03±7.3% by Mon, Aug 3
Put/Call OI0.596K puts / 10K calls
Call wall$392.5largest call OI
Put wall$382.5largest put OI
IV3043.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$5.7Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $392.5
Earnings · expectedWed, Jul 29usually after the close

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Jul 31$385-2.5%2d← 1st expiry after earnings (Wed, Jul 29)
Mon, Aug 3$390-1.3%5d
Wed, Aug 5$385-2.5%7d
Fri, Aug 7$385-2.5%9d
Mon, Aug 10$390-1.3%12d
Fri, Aug 14$395-0.0%16d
Fri, Aug 21$390-1.3%23d
Fri, Aug 28$390-1.3%30d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot390323360398435473510$94M$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 — 390 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Mon, Aug 3

spot390322.5352.5375400425452.52K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSFT open contracts per strike for Mon, Aug 3.

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 · Mon, Aug 3

spot390322.5352.5375400425452.53K3K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Mon, Aug 3

spot323360398435473510103%63%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 72.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Mon, Aug 3

spotflip 392.5322.5352.5375400425452.5+$2.8M$2.8M
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 · Mon, Aug 3

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.72-1.043750.00940.17-1.04-0.28
0.67-1.133800.01000.18-1.13-0.34
0.64-1.16382.50.01030.19-1.16-0.36
0.61-1.193850.01060.19-1.19-0.39
0.59-1.21387.50.01070.20-1.22-0.41
0.56-1.233900.01090.20-1.23-0.44
0.53-1.24392.50.01100.20-1.24-0.47
0.50-1.253950.01100.20-1.25-0.50
0.48-1.24397.50.01100.20-1.24-0.52
0.45-1.234000.01090.20-1.24-0.55
0.42-1.22402.50.01080.20-1.22-0.58
0.40-1.204050.01060.20-1.20-0.60
0.37-1.17407.50.01040.19-1.17-0.63
0.35-1.144100.01020.19-1.14-0.65
0.30-1.074150.00960.18-1.07-0.70

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 53 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot27034038041545049016K0
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.

Max pain history

History starts accruing now: first snapshot taken 2026-07-28. We chart only days we actually observed — check back as the record builds. The measured hit-rate across all tickers lives on the accuracy ledger.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot195325390455520620260K260K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2.8M call contracts, 1.3M 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: MSFT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk