Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 11:33 PM ET

OHI max pain

Spot (delayed)$46.53
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$48+3.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.58±14.1% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.73306 puts / 177 calls
Call wall$43largest call OI
Put wall$48largest put OI
IV3020.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$15Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $42

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 · Jobs report Fri, Oct 2 · CPI release Wed, Oct 14 · FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$47+1.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$48+3.2%33d
Fri, Dec 18$45-3.3%124d
Fri, Jan 15$42-9.7%152d
Fri, Mar 19$48+3.2%215d
Fri, Jan 21$35-24.8%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot48404448525660$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 — 48 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot48404345474955163163
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OHI open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot484043454749552020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot40444852566026%20%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 22.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 42404345474955+$17K$17K
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.83-0.01400.03330.08-0.01-0.21
0.76-0.01420.04200.10-0.01-0.28
0.71-0.01430.04560.12-0.01-0.33
0.66-0.01440.04850.12-0.01-0.37
0.61-0.01450.05060.13-0.01-0.42
0.56-0.01460.05170.13-0.01-0.47
0.51-0.01470.05180.14-0.01-0.52
0.46-0.01480.05120.14-0.01-0.56
0.41-0.01490.04980.13-0.01-0.61
0.36-0.01500.04780.13-0.01-0.65
0.20-0.01550.03350.10-0.00-0.81
0.10-0.00600.02060.06-0.00-0.90

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

spot35434649604K0
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

spot2033394449705K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K 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: OHI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk