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

PLCE max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.46
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$1-59.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.3±52.8% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.7316 puts / 22 calls
Call wall$1largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV30137.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$8per 1% move · flip ≈ $2

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

spot1122334$1M$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 — 1 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot11242020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLCE open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

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, Mar 19

spot112411
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 2124+$9$9
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, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.93-0.0010.06190.00-0.00-0.07
0.75-0.0020.16720.01-0.00-0.25
0.45-0.0040.19090.01-0.00-0.56

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

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