Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:20 PM ET

OMF max pain

Spot (delayed)$65.68
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$62.5-4.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.85±5.9% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.48231 puts / 478 calls
Call wall$70largest call OI
Put wall$52.5largest put OI
IV3022.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$102Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $62.5

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$62.5-4.8%4d
Fri, Sep 18$62.5-4.8%32d
Fri, Nov 20$60-8.6%95d
Fri, Feb 19$62.5-4.8%186d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot62.5434955616773$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 — 62.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot62.542.552.557.562.567.572.5178178
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OMF 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

spot62.542.552.557.562.567.572.5535535
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot43495561677386%22%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 23.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 62.542.552.557.562.567.572.5+$45K$45K
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
0.98-0.0142.50.00330.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0147.50.00590.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.0152.50.01160.02-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.02550.01680.03-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.0257.50.02520.04-0.02-0.11
0.83-0.02600.03870.05-0.02-0.16
0.74-0.0362.50.05980.07-0.03-0.26
0.57-0.03650.08280.08-0.03-0.43
0.36-0.0267.50.08160.08-0.03-0.64
0.21-0.02700.05810.06-0.02-0.79
0.13-0.0272.50.03800.04-0.02-0.87

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

spot4057.567.577.5952K0
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

spot2537.55062.575958K8K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 15K 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: OMF workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk