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

NUAI max pain

Spot (delayed)$5.17
Max pain · Fri, Sep 25$4.5-13.0% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2±38.7% by Fri, Sep 25
Put/Call OI2.07339 puts / 164 calls
Call wall$5.5largest call OI
Put wall$0.5largest put OI
IV30152.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$422per 1% move · flip ≈ $5.5

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

spot4.5124579$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 — 4.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot4.50.534.567.5275275
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NUAI open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 25.

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 25

spot4.50.534.567.577
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spot124579403%147%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 153.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 25

spotflip 5.50.53.556.58+$394$394
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 25

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
1.00-0.000.50.00320.00-0.00-0.01
0.99-0.0010.00790.00-0.00-0.02
0.96-0.0020.02550.00-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0130.06310.00-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.013.50.08980.00-0.01-0.15
0.79-0.0140.11670.01-0.01-0.22
0.71-0.014.50.13830.01-0.01-0.30
0.63-0.0150.15160.01-0.01-0.38
0.56-0.015.50.15670.01-0.01-0.45
0.49-0.0160.15580.01-0.01-0.52
0.43-0.016.50.15100.01-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.0170.14380.01-0.01-0.63
0.34-0.017.50.13550.01-0.01-0.68
0.30-0.0180.12680.01-0.01-0.71
0.27-0.018.50.11810.01-0.01-0.75

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