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

MSFT max pain

Spot (delayed)$395.01
Max pain · Wed, Aug 5$385-2.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$30.48±7.7% by Wed, Aug 5
Put/Call OI0.662K puts / 4K calls
Call wall$430largest call OI
Put wall$340largest put OI
IV3043.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$2.1Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $397.5
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

spot385310348385423460498$28M$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 — 385 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Wed, Aug 5

spot385310345377.5405437.54851K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)MSFT open contracts per strike for Wed, Aug 5.

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 · Wed, Aug 5

spot385310345377.5405437.54852K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Wed, Aug 5

spot31034838542346049899%53%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 65.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Wed, Aug 5

spotflip 397.5310345377.5405437.5485+$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 · Wed, Aug 5

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.69-0.86377.50.00930.21-0.86-0.32
0.66-0.893800.00960.21-0.89-0.34
0.64-0.91382.50.00990.22-0.92-0.36
0.61-0.933850.01010.22-0.94-0.39
0.58-0.95387.50.01020.23-0.95-0.42
0.56-0.963900.01040.23-0.96-0.44
0.53-0.97392.50.01040.23-0.97-0.47
0.51-0.973950.01050.23-0.97-0.49
0.48-0.97397.50.01050.23-0.97-0.52
0.46-0.974000.01040.23-0.97-0.55
0.40-0.944050.01020.23-0.94-0.60
0.38-0.93407.50.01000.22-0.93-0.62
0.36-0.904100.00980.22-0.91-0.65
0.31-0.854150.00920.21-0.85-0.69
0.27-0.804200.00860.19-0.80-0.73

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 55 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