Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 9:46 PM ET

NUAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.53
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$2.5-54.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.73±13.1% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.3836K puts / 93K calls
Call wall$2.5largest call OI
Put wall$2.5largest put OI
IV30167.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$278Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$2.5-54.8%4d
Fri, Aug 28$5-9.6%11d
Fri, Sep 4$4.5-18.6%18d
Fri, Sep 11$4.5-18.6%25d
Fri, Sep 18$5-9.6%32d
Fri, Sep 25$5-9.6%39d
Fri, Oct 2$5-9.6%46d
Fri, Nov 20$4-27.7%95d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2.513691215$93M$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 — 2.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot2.50.52.54.56.58.512.530K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NUAI 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

spot2.50.52.54.56.58.512.56K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot257101215617%155%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 158.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 21.53.55.57.510+$206K$206K
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
1.0020.00140.00-0.00
1.000.002.50.0036-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.0030.01030.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.003.50.03090.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.0140.08890.00-0.01-0.04
0.88-0.024.50.21250.00-0.02-0.12
0.71-0.0450.35770.00-0.04-0.28
0.51-0.055.50.41190.00-0.05-0.49
0.33-0.0560.36090.00-0.05-0.67
0.20-0.046.50.27030.00-0.04-0.80
0.12-0.0370.18660.00-0.03-0.88
0.07-0.027.50.12360.00-0.02-0.93
0.04-0.0180.08050.00-0.01-0.96
0.03-0.018.50.05210.00-0.01-0.97
0.02-0.0090.03370.00-0.00-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 22 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot0.52.54.56.58.512.530K0
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

spot0.52.54.56.58.51142K42K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 223K call contracts, 60K 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: NUAI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk