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

PESI max pain

Spot (delayed)$17.37
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$10-42.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$6.8±39.1% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.24295 puts / 1K calls
Call wall$20largest call OI
Put wall$10largest put OI
IV3086.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$10Kper 1% move

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$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

spot1051117232935$2M$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 — 10 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1051015202535351351
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PESI 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

spot1051015202535623623
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51117232935173%81%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 84.2% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot51015202535+$5K$5K
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
0.98-0.0050.00420.01-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.017.50.00940.01-0.01-0.06
0.90-0.01100.01740.02-0.01-0.11
0.82-0.0112.50.02730.03-0.01-0.18
0.72-0.01150.03660.04-0.01-0.28
0.61-0.0117.50.04250.04-0.01-0.39
0.51-0.01200.04420.04-0.01-0.50
0.43-0.0122.50.04280.04-0.01-0.59
0.36-0.01250.03990.04-0.01-0.66
0.26-0.01300.03300.03-0.01-0.76
0.19-0.01350.02690.03-0.01-0.83

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