Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 11:33 PM ET

NMAX max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.86
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$5-54.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.63±15.0% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.051 puts / 21 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3072.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$291per 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$7.5-30.9%4d
Fri, Aug 28$7-35.5%11d
Fri, Sep 4$5-54.0%18d
Fri, Sep 11$9-17.1%25d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-30.9%32d
Fri, Sep 25$7-35.5%39d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-30.9%60d
Fri, Jan 15$10-7.9%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot556791011$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot5578910111111
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NMAX open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

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 4

spot5578910111212
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot78991011215%64%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot57891011+$205$205
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, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.95-0.0250.01700.00-0.01-0.05
0.91-0.0270.03940.00-0.02-0.09
0.87-0.0280.06120.01-0.02-0.13
0.81-0.0290.09830.01-0.02-0.19
0.70-0.02100.15820.01-0.02-0.30
0.52-0.02110.19800.01-0.02-0.48

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

spot157.59.511.5146600
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

spot14.57.510.513.5206K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 6K 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: NMAX workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk