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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 3:30 PM ET

PEP max pain

Spot (delayed)$139.15
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$140+0.6% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.4±7.5% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.3531K puts / 89K calls
Call wall$170largest call OI
Put wall$130largest put OI
IV3024.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$7.5Mper 1% move · flip ≈ $155

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 · Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$140+0.6%6d
Fri, Aug 14$139-0.1%13d
Fri, Aug 21$140+0.6%20d
Fri, Aug 28$139-0.1%27d
Fri, Sep 4$140+0.6%34d
Fri, Sep 11$139-0.1%41d
Fri, Sep 18$140+0.6%48d
Fri, Oct 16$140+0.6%76d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1406596127158189220$516M$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 — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot140659011514016519042K42K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PEP open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 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, Sep 18

spot1406590115140165190225225
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot7010013016019022099%24%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 24.8% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1556590115140165190+$4.6M$4.6M
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, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.001050.00120.01-0.01-0.01
0.99-0.011100.00200.01-0.01-0.02
0.98-0.011150.00370.02-0.01-0.04
0.96-0.011200.00740.05-0.02-0.07
0.91-0.021250.01420.09-0.03-0.13
0.81-0.041300.02340.14-0.04-0.24
0.67-0.051350.03130.18-0.05-0.38
0.50-0.051400.03410.20-0.05-0.54
0.34-0.051450.03070.18-0.05-0.68
0.22-0.041500.02380.15-0.04-0.80
0.13-0.031550.01670.11-0.03-0.88
0.08-0.021600.01120.08-0.02-0.93
0.05-0.021650.00760.06-0.01-0.95
0.04-0.011700.00530.04-0.01-0.97
0.03-0.011750.00380.03-0.01-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 30 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot751251341421501757K0
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

spot6512013214316020566K66K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 261K call contracts, 117K 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: PEP workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk