Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 2:52 AM ET

OUT max pain

Spot (delayed)$30.24
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$30-0.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.38±4.5% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.007 puts / 4K calls
Call wall$34largest call OI
Put wall$30largest put OI
IV3032.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$138Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $28

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$30-0.8%6d
Fri, Sep 18$30-0.8%34d
Fri, Dec 18$29-4.1%125d
Fri, Mar 19$25-17.3%216d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot30252730323537$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 — 30 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot302529313335374K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OUT open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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, Aug 21

spot302529313335372222
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot283032333537138%29%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 40.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 28252931333537+$130K$130K
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, Aug 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.01250.01960.00-0.01-0.03
0.88-0.03280.09820.01-0.03-0.12
0.78-0.04290.17590.01-0.04-0.22
0.57-0.04300.27370.02-0.04-0.43
0.30-0.03310.25520.01-0.04-0.71
0.13-0.02320.14140.01-0.02-0.89
0.06-0.01330.06950.01-0.01-0.95
0.03-0.01340.03560.00-0.01-0.98
0.02-0.01350.01950.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00360.01130.00-0.00-0.99
0.01-0.00370.00690.00-0.00-1.00

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

spot2326293235394K0
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

spot1520253035404K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 5K call contracts, 177 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: OUT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk