Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 4, 11:33 PM ET

NA max pain

Spot (delayed)$1.81
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$2.5+38.1% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.98±109.4% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 475 calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
IV30126.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$723per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · 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$2.5+38.1%14d
Fri, Sep 18$2.5+38.1%42d
Fri, Nov 20$2.5+38.1%105d
Fri, Feb 19$2.5+38.1%196d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

Open interest by strike · 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

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.557.51K0
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

spot2.557.51K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 2K call contracts, 129 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: NA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk