Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 29, 2:55 AM ET

PONY max pain

Spot (delayed)$7.57
Max pain · Fri, Oct 2$8+5.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.27±16.8% by Fri, Oct 2
Put/Call OI0.12269 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$6largest put OI
IV3062.4%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $5.5

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 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Sep 4$8+5.7%5d
Fri, Sep 11$8+5.7%12d
Fri, Sep 18$7.5-0.9%19d
Fri, Sep 25$7.5-0.9%26d
Fri, Oct 2$8+5.7%33d
Fri, Oct 9$8+5.7%40d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-0.9%47d
Fri, Nov 20$10+32.1%82d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot846891113$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 — 8 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot846.589.5112K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PONY open contracts per strike for Fri, Oct 2.

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, Oct 2

spot846.589.5112020
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spot679101213141%58%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 68.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Oct 2

spotflip 5.546.589.511+$15K$15K
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, Oct 2

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.0040.02820.00-0.00-0.04
0.90-0.015.50.08360.00-0.01-0.10
0.85-0.0160.12000.01-0.01-0.15
0.78-0.016.50.16860.01-0.01-0.21
0.69-0.0170.22200.01-0.01-0.31
0.56-0.017.50.25770.01-0.01-0.44
0.43-0.0180.25620.01-0.01-0.56
0.33-0.018.50.22720.01-0.01-0.67
0.25-0.0190.19060.01-0.01-0.74
0.20-0.019.50.15690.01-0.01-0.80
0.16-0.01100.12900.01-0.01-0.84
0.13-0.0110.50.10670.01-0.01-0.87
0.10-0.01110.08900.00-0.01-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot2.55.57.5910.512.512K0
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

spot2.55.58.511.514.52517K17K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 55K 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: PONY workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk