Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 25, 11:06 PM ET

OZK max pain

Spot (delayed)$49.2
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$50+1.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.25±4.6% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI1.11662 puts / 595 calls
Call wall$52.5largest call OI
Put wall$47.5largest put OI
IV3021.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$40Kper 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, Sep 18$50+1.6%22d
Fri, Oct 16$50+1.6%50d
Fri, Nov 20$50+1.6%85d
Fri, Jan 15$45-8.5%141d
Fri, Feb 19$47.5-3.5%176d
Fri, Jan 21$47.5-3.5%512d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot50303641475258$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 — 50 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot503037.542.547.552.557.5316316
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)OZK 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

spot503037.542.547.552.557.5333333
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot38424650545875%19%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 21.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 353037.542.547.552.557.5+$65K$65K
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
0.99-0.01300.00300.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01350.00630.01-0.01-0.02
0.97-0.0137.50.00950.01-0.01-0.03
0.95-0.01400.01510.01-0.01-0.05
0.93-0.0142.50.02570.02-0.01-0.07
0.89-0.01450.04930.03-0.02-0.12
0.75-0.0247.50.10680.04-0.02-0.26
0.42-0.02500.15120.05-0.02-0.60
0.11-0.0152.50.07890.03-0.01-0.92
0.04-0.01550.02840.01-0.01-1.00
0.03-0.0057.50.01540.01-0.01-1.00

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

spot3040455055601K0
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

spot2030405060751K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 6K call contracts, 8K 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: OZK workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk