Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 4:56 AM ET

OR max pain

Spot (delayed)$33.36
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$35+4.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.9±11.7% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.37270 puts / 738 calls
Call wall$35largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3043.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$37Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $35

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$30-10.1%6d
Fri, Sep 18$35+4.9%34d
Fri, Oct 16$40+19.9%62d
Fri, Jan 15$30-10.1%153d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot35252933374145$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot352530354045539539
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OR 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

spot35253035404566
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot25293337414577%43%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 43.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 352530354045+$35K$35K
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
0.97-0.01250.01320.01-0.01-0.03
0.81-0.02300.06110.03-0.02-0.19
0.40-0.03350.08330.04-0.03-0.60
0.14-0.02400.04280.02-0.02-0.86
0.05-0.01450.01740.01-0.01-0.96

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

spot17.522.5304050602K0
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

spot1522.53550652K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K 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: OR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk