Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 3:51 PM ET

PAYP max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.03
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$15-0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2±13.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.27172 puts / 628 calls
Call wall$17.5largest call OI
Put wall$15largest put OI
IV3060.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$1Kper 1% move

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-0.2%3d
Fri, Sep 18$15-0.2%31d
Fri, Oct 16$15-0.2%59d
Fri, Jan 15$17.5+16.4%150d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot155913172125$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 — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot15512.517.525467467
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAYP 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

spot15512.517.52511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot131518202325470%93%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 171.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot1012.51517.520+$10K$10K
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
1.000.0050.00010.000.00
1.00-0.00100.00350.00-0.00-0.00
0.98-0.0112.50.03900.00-0.01-0.02
0.55-0.06150.42000.01-0.06-0.45
0.06-0.0217.50.08180.00-0.02-0.94
0.01-0.01200.01660.00-0.01-0.99
0.00-0.00250.00210.000.00-1.00

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

spot12.517.522.5305040
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.530531531
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 472 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: PAYP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk