Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 5:48 PM ET

NMAD max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.21
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$3-28.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.6±61.8% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.000 puts / 122 calls
Call wall$4largest call OI
IV30130.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$525per 1% move

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$4-5.0%3d
Fri, Sep 18$3-28.7%31d
Fri, Oct 16$3-28.7%59d
Fri, Jan 15$5+18.8%150d

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

spot3451210
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

spot1357198198
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 631 call contracts, 34 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: NMAD workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk