Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 11, 11:37 PM ET

PBA max pain

Spot (delayed)$48.69
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$45-7.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.08±4.3% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI0.09643 puts / 7K calls
Call wall$55largest call OI
Put wall$35largest put OI
IV3017.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$756Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $45

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$45-7.6%7d
Fri, Sep 18$50+2.7%35d
Fri, Oct 16$45-7.6%63d
Fri, Nov 20$45-7.6%98d
Fri, Feb 19$40-17.8%189d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45253137434955$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot452535404550556K6K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PBA 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

spot4525354045505511
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot404346495255104%21%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 26.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spotflip 45253540455055+$377K$377K
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
1.00-0.00250.00020.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.01350.00340.00-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.01400.01090.00-0.01-0.02
0.93-0.02450.05440.01-0.02-0.08
0.22-0.02500.17860.02-0.02-0.78
0.04-0.01550.02510.01-0.01-0.96

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

spot2535404550556K0
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

spot20304560757K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K 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: PBA workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk