Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 10:06 AM ET

NNE max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.98
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$20+11.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.13±17.4% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.644K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$25largest call OI
Put wall$18largest put OI
IV30100.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$28Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$17-5.5%1d
Fri, Aug 14$17.5-2.7%8d
Fri, Aug 21$20+11.2%15d
Fri, Aug 28$16-11.0%22d
Fri, Sep 4$20+11.2%29d
Fri, Sep 11$19.5+8.5%36d
Fri, Sep 18$18+0.1%43d
Fri, Oct 16$23+27.9%71d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2021017253240$10M$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 — 20 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot20210.514.518.523311K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NNE open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot20210.514.518.52331112112
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot51219263340364%83%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 104.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 5511.516202634+$20K$20K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.85-0.0314.50.05630.01-0.03-0.15
0.81-0.03150.06530.01-0.03-0.18
0.78-0.0415.50.07430.01-0.04-0.22
0.73-0.04160.08290.01-0.04-0.26
0.69-0.0416.50.09060.01-0.04-0.31
0.64-0.04170.09670.01-0.04-0.36
0.59-0.0517.50.10100.01-0.05-0.41
0.54-0.05180.10320.01-0.05-0.46
0.48-0.0518.50.10350.01-0.05-0.51
0.44-0.05190.10190.01-0.05-0.56
0.39-0.0519.50.09890.01-0.05-0.61
0.35-0.04200.09460.01-0.04-0.65
0.31-0.0420.50.08960.01-0.04-0.69
0.27-0.04210.08390.01-0.04-0.73
0.24-0.0421.50.07800.01-0.04-0.76

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 46 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot11014.51923.5282K0
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

spot11218.52531.5425K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 61K call contracts, 31K 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: NNE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk