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

PENG max pain

Spot (delayed)$64.2
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$35-45.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$32.9±51.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI1.2715K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$65largest call OI
Put wall$25largest put OI
IV3088.0%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$201Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7.5

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 · 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

spot353285479105130$73M$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 — 35 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot352.517.5407010013011K11K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PENG open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot352.517.540701001301010
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot5305580105130210%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 101.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 7.57.520406590115+$97K$97K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.92-0.02300.00320.06-0.02-0.07
0.89-0.02350.00430.08-0.03-0.11
0.85-0.03400.00540.10-0.03-0.15
0.81-0.04450.00640.11-0.04-0.19
0.76-0.04500.00730.13-0.04-0.23
0.71-0.04550.00800.14-0.05-0.28
0.67-0.05600.00860.15-0.05-0.33
0.62-0.05650.00900.16-0.05-0.37
0.58-0.05700.00920.16-0.05-0.42
0.54-0.05750.00940.16-0.05-0.46
0.50-0.05800.00940.17-0.05-0.50
0.46-0.05850.00940.16-0.05-0.54
0.43-0.05900.00930.16-0.05-0.57
0.40-0.05950.00910.16-0.05-0.60
0.37-0.051000.00890.16-0.05-0.63

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 31 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