Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 1:03 AM ET

OPY max pain

Spot (delayed)$116.34
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$95-18.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$26.45±22.7% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI1.005 puts / 5 calls
Call wall$60largest call OI
Put wall$95largest put OI
IV3036.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$62per 1% move · flip ≈ $95

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$110-5.4%5d
Fri, Sep 18$90-22.6%33d
Fri, Dec 18$90-22.6%124d
Fri, Mar 19$95-18.3%215d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot956082104126148170$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 — 95 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot95609511512013517055
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OPY 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

spot95609511512013517011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot608210412614817048%37%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 37.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 956095115120135170+$514$514
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
0.96-0.01600.00160.07-0.01-0.04
0.79-0.02950.00750.25-0.02-0.20
0.59-0.031150.01140.34-0.03-0.41
0.53-0.031200.01180.35-0.03-0.47
0.37-0.031350.01150.34-0.03-0.65
0.13-0.021700.00630.19-0.02-0.92

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

spot5575951151351551080
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

spot406590115140165109109
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 235 call contracts, 47 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: OPY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk