Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 1:21 AM ET

PLCE max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.46
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$5+103.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.25±50.8% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.231K puts / 6K calls
Call wall$8largest call OI
Put wall$3largest put OI
IV30137.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$3Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $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$3+22.0%5d
Fri, Sep 18$3+22.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$4+62.6%124d
Fri, Jan 15$5+103.3%152d
Fri, Mar 19$1-59.3%215d
Fri, Jan 21$3+22.0%523d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot51815212835$15M$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 — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot51471220302K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLCE 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

spot514712203011
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot1815212835239%104%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.6% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 5147122030+$1K$1K
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
0.93-0.0010.06280.00-0.00-0.07
0.75-0.0020.18130.01-0.00-0.26
0.55-0.0030.21650.01-0.00-0.46
0.43-0.0040.19710.01-0.00-0.58
0.37-0.0050.17410.01-0.00-0.65
0.32-0.0060.15590.01-0.00-0.69
0.29-0.0070.14180.01-0.00-0.73
0.27-0.0080.13090.01-0.00-0.75
0.24-0.00100.11520.01-0.00-0.79

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 9 strikes around the money — all 17 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot135793K0
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

spot1471017255K5K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 14K call contracts, 8K 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: PLCE workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk