Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 17, 10:48 PM ET

PHM max pain

Spot (delayed)$128.49
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$125-2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$10.25±8.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.483K puts / 5K calls
Call wall$140largest call OI
Put wall$120largest put OI
IV3033.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$901Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $135

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$130+1.2%2d
Fri, Aug 28$135+5.1%9d
Fri, Sep 4$130+1.2%16d
Fri, Sep 11$128-0.4%23d
Fri, Sep 18$125-2.7%30d
Fri, Sep 25$120-6.6%37d
Fri, Oct 16$135+5.1%58d
Fri, Nov 20$135+5.1%93d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1255082114146178210$36M$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 — 125 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot12550801101401702001K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PHM 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

spot12550801101401702009797
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot6090120150180210101%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 33.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 1357595115135155175+$434K$434K
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
0.99-0.00950.00140.01-0.01-0.01
0.98-0.011000.00280.02-0.01-0.02
0.96-0.021050.00520.03-0.02-0.04
0.93-0.031100.00930.05-0.03-0.07
0.87-0.041150.01540.08-0.05-0.13
0.78-0.061200.02280.11-0.06-0.23
0.64-0.071250.02900.14-0.08-0.36
0.49-0.081300.03110.15-0.08-0.52
0.35-0.071350.02840.14-0.07-0.66
0.23-0.061400.02280.12-0.06-0.77
0.15-0.051450.01690.09-0.05-0.85
0.10-0.041500.01190.07-0.04-0.91
0.06-0.031550.00800.04-0.03-0.95
0.03-0.021600.00520.03-0.02-0.98
0.02-0.011650.00310.02-0.01-1.00

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1101211281341401604280
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

spot501051201311421752K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 13K 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: PHM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk