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Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Jul 31, 7:26 PM ET

PLUG max pain

Spot (delayed)$2.03
Max pain · Fri, Aug 7$2-1.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$0.18±8.9% by Fri, Aug 7
Put/Call OI0.142K puts / 11K calls
Call wall$3largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3098.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$17Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 7$2-1.5%6d
Fri, Aug 14$2-1.5%13d
Fri, Aug 21$2.5+23.2%20d
Fri, Aug 28$2.5+23.2%27d
Fri, Sep 4$2-1.5%34d
Fri, Sep 11$2.5+23.2%41d
Fri, Sep 18$3+47.8%48d
Fri, Dec 18$3+47.8%139d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot2123456$3M$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 — 2 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 7

spot20.51.52.53.54.55.54K4K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PLUG open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 7.

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, Aug 7

spot20.51.52.53.54.55.5635635
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Aug 7

spot122345305%78%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 79.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 7

spot1234+$9K$9K
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, Aug 7

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.000.50.0127-0.00-0.01
0.98-0.0010.05620.00-0.00-0.02
0.95-0.001.50.26220.00-0.00-0.05
0.58-0.0121.61740.00-0.01-0.42
0.16-0.012.50.63340.00-0.01-0.85
0.04-0.0030.21460.00-0.00-0.96
0.03-0.003.50.11460.00-0.00-0.97
0.02-0.0040.06980.00-0.00-0.98
0.01-0.004.50.03950.00-0.00-0.99
0.000.0050.01510.00-1.00
0.000.005.50.01110.00-1.00

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

spot0.51.52.53.54.55.512K0
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

spot0.523.557116K116K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 590K call contracts, 169K 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: PLUG workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk