Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 19, 1:46 AM ET

OPEN max pain

Spot (delayed)$3.34
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$4+19.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.61±18.3% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.68189 puts / 279 calls
Call wall$6largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV3065.3%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$66per 1% move · flip ≈ $3

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$3.5+4.8%3d
Fri, Aug 28$3.5+4.8%10d
Fri, Sep 4$3.5+4.8%17d
Fri, Sep 11$3.5+4.8%24d
Fri, Sep 18$4+19.8%31d
Fri, Sep 25$3.5+4.8%38d
Fri, Oct 2$4+19.8%45d
Fri, Oct 16$4+19.8%59d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4123567$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 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot4134567115115
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OPEN open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot4134567159159
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot334567151%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 62.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 32.53.54.55.56.5+$439$439
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.01750.00-0.00-0.02
0.86-0.002.50.20070.00-0.00-0.14
0.72-0.0030.35750.00-0.00-0.29
0.51-0.003.50.44190.01-0.00-0.50
0.33-0.0040.38380.00-0.00-0.68
0.21-0.004.50.28980.00-0.00-0.80
0.15-0.0050.21370.00-0.00-0.87
0.10-0.005.50.15950.00-0.00-0.91
0.08-0.0060.12140.00-0.00-0.94
0.06-0.006.50.09440.00-0.00-0.96
0.05-0.0070.07480.00-0.00-0.98

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

spot0.52.54.56.58.51236K0
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

spot0.52.54.56.58.512180K180K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 859K call contracts, 153K 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: OPEN workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk