Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 6:31 AM ET

RDVT max pain

Spot (delayed)$69.78
Max pain · Fri, Jan 15$45-35.5% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$17.6±25.2% by Fri, Jan 15
Put/Call OI0.0218 puts / 909 calls
Call wall$80largest call OI
Put wall$40largest put OI
IV3049.2%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$77Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $30

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$60-14.0%4d
Fri, Sep 18$70+0.3%32d
Fri, Oct 16$40-42.7%60d
Fri, Jan 15$45-35.5%151d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot452540557085100$2M$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 — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot452545607590600600
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)RDVT open contracts per strike for Fri, Jan 15.

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, Jan 15

spot45254560759022
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spot2540557085100122%46%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 48.7% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Jan 15

spotflip 302545607590+$52K$52K
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, Jan 15

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01300.00200.04-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01400.00420.06-0.01-0.07
0.90-0.02450.00580.08-0.02-0.10
0.87-0.02500.00800.10-0.02-0.14
0.82-0.02550.01050.12-0.02-0.19
0.75-0.02600.01330.14-0.03-0.26
0.68-0.03650.01580.16-0.03-0.34
0.59-0.03700.01760.18-0.03-0.42
0.50-0.03750.01820.18-0.03-0.52
0.42-0.03800.01790.18-0.03-0.60
0.35-0.03850.01680.17-0.03-0.68
0.29-0.02900.01530.15-0.03-0.75
0.24-0.02950.01360.14-0.02-0.80
0.20-0.021000.01200.13-0.02-0.85

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 14 strikes around the money — all 15 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot405060708090570
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

spot203045607590611611
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 1K call contracts, 74 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: RDVT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk