Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 10:08 PM ET

NUAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.17
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$5-3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.83±35.3% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.298K puts / 26K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$3.5largest put OI
IV30152.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$60Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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$2.5-51.6%3d
Fri, Aug 28$5-3.3%10d
Fri, Sep 4$4.5-13.0%17d
Fri, Sep 11$4.5-13.0%24d
Fri, Sep 18$5-3.3%31d
Fri, Sep 25$4.5-13.0%38d
Fri, Oct 2$5-3.3%45d
Fri, Nov 20$4-22.6%94d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot53467910$4M$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 18

spot52.53.54.55.51012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NUAI open contracts per strike for 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

spot52.53.54.55.510733733
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3467910285%147%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 155.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.52.53.54.55.510+$44K$44K
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 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.002.50.03620.00-0.00-0.04
0.93-0.0130.06230.00-0.01-0.08
0.87-0.013.50.09480.00-0.01-0.14
0.80-0.0140.12700.00-0.01-0.21
0.71-0.014.50.15200.01-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.0150.16680.01-0.01-0.38
0.54-0.015.50.17210.01-0.01-0.47
0.30-0.017.50.14260.01-0.01-0.71
0.14-0.01100.08890.00-0.01-0.87

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

spot0.52.54.56.58.51130K0
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

spot0.52.54.56.58.51139K39K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 227K call contracts, 65K 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