Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:33 PM ET

PESI max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.37
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$7.5-56.8% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.83±22.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.05617 puts / 13K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$5largest put OI
IV3086.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$189Kper 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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$15-13.6%3d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-56.8%31d
Fri, Dec 18$10-42.4%122d
Fri, Mar 19$12.5-28.0%213d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot7.53814192530$19M$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 — 7.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.5304K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PESI 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

spot7.52.57.512.517.522.530624624
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot3814192530320%50%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 89.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 7.5510152025+$81K$81K
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
1.000.002.50.00020.000.000.00
1.00-0.0050.00110.00-0.00-0.00
0.99-0.007.50.00410.00-0.00-0.01
0.96-0.01100.01310.00-0.01-0.04
0.90-0.0112.50.03450.01-0.01-0.10
0.76-0.02150.06720.02-0.02-0.24
0.55-0.0317.50.08720.02-0.03-0.45
0.35-0.02200.08000.02-0.03-0.65
0.22-0.0222.50.06090.02-0.02-0.79
0.14-0.01250.04330.01-0.02-0.87
0.06-0.01300.02140.01-0.01-0.95

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

spot510152025355K0
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5305K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 15K 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: PESI workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk