Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 14, 8:06 PM ET

OMER max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.38
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$7-59.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.75±38.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.181K puts / 7K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3065.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$54Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $4

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$10-42.5%7d
Fri, Sep 18$15-13.7%35d
Fri, Nov 20$12-31.0%98d
Fri, Dec 18$10-42.5%126d
Fri, Jan 15$7-59.7%154d
Fri, Feb 19$2-88.5%189d
Fri, Jan 21$10-42.5%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot71815212835$14M$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 — 7 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot716111623282K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OMER open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot71611162328100100
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1815212835227%75%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 77.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 42712172429+$14K$14K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.89-0.01100.01810.02-0.01-0.10
0.86-0.01110.02220.02-0.01-0.13
0.83-0.01120.02650.03-0.01-0.17
0.79-0.01130.03070.03-0.01-0.20
0.75-0.01140.03460.04-0.01-0.24
0.71-0.01150.03800.04-0.01-0.29
0.66-0.01160.04080.04-0.01-0.33
0.62-0.01170.04300.04-0.01-0.38
0.57-0.01180.04440.04-0.01-0.42
0.49-0.01200.04560.04-0.01-0.51
0.42-0.01220.04470.04-0.01-0.58
0.38-0.01230.04370.04-0.01-0.62
0.35-0.01240.04240.04-0.01-0.65
0.32-0.01250.04100.04-0.01-0.68
0.29-0.01260.03940.04-0.01-0.71

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot39152127336K0
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

spot171319253112K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 67K call contracts, 34K 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: OMER workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk