Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 13, 11:14 PM ET

PPLT max pain

Spot (delayed)$15.54
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$17+9.4% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.4±9.0% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.3816K puts / 42K calls
Call wall$19.5largest call OI
Put wall$19.2largest put OI
IV3036.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$357Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $10.5

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$15.5-0.3%7d
Fri, Sep 18$17+9.4%35d
Fri, Dec 18$17+9.4%126d
Fri, Jan 15$16.5+6.2%154d
Fri, Mar 19$13-16.3%217d
Fri, Jan 21$17.5+12.6%525d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot17121722273237$67M$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 — 17 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot1711.51619.22125309K9K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)PPLT 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

spot1711.51619.2212530370370
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot121518212528140%32%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 36.1% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 10.511.51619.2212530+$155K$155K
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
0.95-0.0011.50.03540.01-0.00-0.05
0.93-0.00120.04590.01-0.01-0.07
0.88-0.01130.07810.01-0.01-0.11
0.85-0.0113.50.10210.01-0.01-0.15
0.80-0.01140.13230.01-0.01-0.20
0.73-0.0114.50.16740.02-0.01-0.27
0.64-0.01150.20080.02-0.01-0.36
0.53-0.0115.50.22020.02-0.01-0.46
0.43-0.01160.21620.02-0.01-0.57
0.33-0.0116.50.19370.02-0.01-0.67
0.26-0.01170.16480.02-0.01-0.74
0.21-0.0117.50.13740.01-0.01-0.79
0.17-0.01180.11420.01-0.01-0.83
0.14-0.0118.50.09540.01-0.01-0.86
0.12-0.01190.08040.01-0.01-0.88

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 45 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot1015.518.519.623289K0
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

spot91418.519.9243123K23K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 222K call contracts, 85K 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: PPLT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk