Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 27, 7:48 PM ET

PARR max pain

Spot (delayed)$76.69
Max pain · Fri, May 21$75-2.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.3±38.2% by Fri, May 21
Put/Call OI0.7141 puts / 58 calls
Call wall$85largest call OI
Put wall$75largest put OI
IV3058.1%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$1Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $55

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, Sep 18$65-15.2%21d
Fri, Oct 16$50-34.8%49d
Fri, Dec 18$60-21.8%112d
Fri, Jan 15$80+4.3%140d
Fri, Mar 19$65-15.2%203d
Fri, May 21$75-2.2%266d
Fri, Aug 20$90+17.4%357d
Fri, Nov 19$40-47.8%448d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7540557085100115$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 — 75 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, May 21

spot7540556580901001919
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PARR open contracts per strike for Fri, May 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, May 21

spot75405565809010099
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, May 21

spot4055708510011568%56%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 57.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, May 21

spotflip 554055658090100+$563$563
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, May 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.01400.00310.09-0.01-0.07
0.86-0.01500.00520.14-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.02550.00630.17-0.02-0.17
0.78-0.02600.00740.19-0.02-0.22
0.73-0.02650.00840.21-0.02-0.27
0.63-0.03750.00980.24-0.03-0.37
0.58-0.03800.01020.25-0.03-0.42
0.53-0.03850.01030.26-0.03-0.47
0.49-0.03900.01040.26-0.03-0.52
0.45-0.03950.01020.26-0.03-0.56
0.41-0.031000.01000.25-0.03-0.60
0.31-0.031150.00900.23-0.02-0.71

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

spot20355575951154K0
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

spot20355575951154K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 11K call contracts, 2K 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: PARR workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk