Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 18, 7:42 PM ET

PAYP max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.03
Max pain · Fri, Oct 16$15-0.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.57±23.8% by Fri, Oct 16
Put/Call OI0.2081 puts / 413 calls
Call wall$30largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3060.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $12.5

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

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

spot1581217212630$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, Oct 16

spot157.512.517.522.530118118
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PAYP open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 16.

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, Oct 16

spot157.512.517.522.53011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spot101418222630155%52%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 63.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 16

spotflip 12.57.512.517.522.530+$1K$1K
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, Oct 16

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.98-0.007.50.01390.00-0.00-0.03
0.92-0.01100.03400.01-0.01-0.08
0.78-0.0112.50.07320.02-0.01-0.21
0.54-0.01150.10480.02-0.01-0.45
0.31-0.0117.50.09010.02-0.01-0.67
0.18-0.01200.06240.02-0.01-0.80
0.11-0.0122.50.04210.01-0.01-0.87
0.08-0.01250.02920.01-0.01-0.91
0.04-0.00300.01540.01-0.00-0.95

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