Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 6, 12:50 PM ET

RDCM max pain

Spot (delayed)$10.2
Max pain · Fri, Aug 21$12.5+22.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.29±12.6% by Fri, Aug 21
Put/Call OI11.41308 puts / 27 calls
Call wall$10largest call OI
Put wall$7.5largest put OI
IV3052.5%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$4Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Aug 7 · CPI release Wed, Aug 12 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12.5+22.5%15d
Fri, Sep 18$10-2.0%43d
Fri, Oct 16$7.5-26.5%71d
Fri, Jan 15$12.5+22.5%162d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot12.58910111213$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 — 12.5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot12.57.51012.5184184
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RDCM open contracts per strike for Fri, Aug 21.

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 21

spot12.57.51012.533
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Aug 21

spot7.51012.5+$2K$2K
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 21

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.94-0.017.50.06070.00-0.01-0.06
0.54-0.01100.32140.01-0.02-0.47
0.17-0.0212.50.12200.01-0.01-0.84

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

spot51012.515600
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

spot2.57.512.517.522.5211211
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 125 call contracts, 340 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: RDCM workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk