Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 15, 5:12 AM ET

PENG max pain

Spot (delayed)$64.2
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$45-29.9% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$29.3±45.6% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.751K puts / 2K calls
Call wall$75largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3088.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$33Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $20

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, Aug 21$60-6.5%5d
Fri, Sep 18$40-37.7%33d
Fri, Oct 16$55-14.3%61d
Fri, Dec 18$45-29.9%124d
Fri, Jan 15$35-45.5%152d
Fri, Mar 19$50-22.1%215d
Fri, Apr 16$40-37.7%243d
Fri, May 21$50-22.1%278d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot4513366083107130$11M$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, Dec 18

spot4512.5255075100125425425
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PENG open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 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, Dec 18

spot4512.52550751001251010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot13366083107130200%92%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 99.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spotflip 2012.5255075100125+$11K$11K
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, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.02300.00310.05-0.02-0.06
0.90-0.03350.00440.06-0.03-0.10
0.86-0.03400.00570.08-0.03-0.14
0.81-0.04450.00700.10-0.04-0.18
0.76-0.05500.00800.12-0.05-0.23
0.71-0.05550.00890.13-0.05-0.29
0.66-0.05600.00960.14-0.06-0.34
0.61-0.06650.01010.14-0.06-0.39
0.56-0.06700.01040.15-0.06-0.44
0.51-0.06750.01050.15-0.06-0.48
0.47-0.06800.01040.15-0.06-0.53
0.43-0.06850.01030.15-0.06-0.57
0.40-0.06900.01010.14-0.06-0.61
0.36-0.06950.00980.14-0.06-0.64
0.33-0.051000.00940.14-0.06-0.67

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 27 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot7.5204065901155K0
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

spot2.517.5407010013012K12K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 59K call contracts, 51K 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: PENG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk